


Seven Dates

by LovelyVero



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-05
Updated: 2014-01-09
Packaged: 2018-01-07 14:22:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 94,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1120896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LovelyVero/pseuds/LovelyVero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Caroline makes a proposition to Klaus, she will be with him if...And only if...He is freeing Tyler of his sire bond over him! Caroline & Klaus / Matt & Rebekah - Romance, humor, adventure - rated M.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The agreement

Caroline Forbes was angry. No, if she wanted to think more about it, she was not angry she was mad as hell. She stormed out of the car, slammed the driver door in a loud noise, before reaching the entrance door of the Mikaelson Manor. She was on a mission, a mission filled with anger and resentment. And today a certain man, that needed to stay nameless for her own sanity, would certainly hear a piece of her mind.

She, angrily and repeatedly, knocked on the front door, before ringing the doorbell, and crossing her arms in front of her chest. The door finally opened on an expressionless Rebekah, who rolled her eyes at her.

"What do you want?" She asked Caroline.

"I want to speak to your brother!" Caroline demanded, with an angry tone of voice.

"Well, I highly doubt that he wants to speak to you." Rebekha responded to Caroline, while copying the exact standing position of Caroline, by crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Rebekah, let her in, would you?!" The Mikaelson sister heard a male voice ordering her.

"That will be your choice, Nick!" Rebekah screamed back at him, before rolling her eyes on the ceiling, while gesturing with her right hand, while letting Caroline enter inside. "He's in his art workshop. I guess you know your way in the house. I said his workshop not his bedroom, Caroline." She added, in a sarcastic tone of voice, while eyeing her from head to toes, to make her feel uncomfortable, before walking toward the stairs.

Caroline watched Rebekah climb the stairs, while closing her fists in anger. She hated her and her snobby Original attitude, she hated this manor, she hated the Originals family, but she hated even more a particular one: Klaus Mikaelson! She stormed in direction of the workshop, before entering in the said room and frizzing her pace, while keeping motionless under the arch door.

In front of her sight; Klaus Mikaelson was painting a large canvas. It was obviously an abstract painting in progress. The colors were dark: a deep green, a bit of grey, and a lot of black.

"What can I do for you, Caroline?" He asked her, while not giving her the time of the day, keeping his stare on his art work, which made her feel rejected for some strange reason.

"I appreciate your heroic saving, and the fact that I am alive, and for that I am grateful to you… But…" She explained, while closing her fists in anger.

"Yes, Love? I sense a demand?" He asked her.

"You almost killed Tyler yesterday!" She told him, while reaching his standing position, and grabbing his right forearm.

Klaus turned his head to glance at her, before lowering his sight on her hand placed on the bare skin of his arm. Caroline noticed his staring, and she freed him of her grip, while blushing.

"I was only defending myself. Your small town, werewolf boy, attacked me; Caroline." He lashed out at her, while dropping his paintbrush in a bucket of fresh water.

"Of course, he attacked you. You re-sired him. Why would you do that?" She yelled as a question.

"You think that he was free of me? You think that his little trip away from Mystic Falls freed Tyler from my power over him? Are you that naïve, Love? I am the Alpha man after all, why do you think I would call myself that, if it was not for my strength and powerfulness over others?" He yelled back at her.

She raised her chin in the air, while staring into his blue eyes, in an intense game of power between the two.

"I want him free of your sired bond over him." Caroline demanded.

"Well … As beautiful as you are, it's not going to happen, sorry." He replied to her, while taking his paint brush back in his hand.

"I have a proposition for you." She mumbled in her teeth, while feeling intense shivers hitting her entire body. Klaus smirked at the same time that her words came out as a whisper from her mouth.

"Not really interested by you proposition, love. I was already too much delayed in my traveling plans, therefore; I should leave for good in a couple of days." He explained, while turning his head and smiling deviously to her. "I'll leave with your dearest friend Elena of course!" He added, maliciously.

"I can be with you, if you want me to be?" She shamelessly murmured to him, while waiting for his reaction. She was answered only by his silence and indifference toward her. "I just said that I would be with you, the way you want me to be."

"And in what way that would be, Caroline?" He calmly replied to her, while putting his paint brush down on the work table, wiping his hands on a damp cloth, before taking a few walking steps to reach her standing position. He bended his upper body and head near hers, while locking his eyes with Caroline's, before murmuring near her lips. "Explain the conditions, love?" He asked her, while slowly taking a strand of her hair, and turning its silkiness around one of his fingers.

* * *

_**Couple of days before…** _

Suddenly, Rebekah opened her eyes widely, while fixating the ceiling above her sight, her body still completely motionless for an additional few seconds. She rapidly scattered her surroundings, realizing about her lying position in a coffin. With the help of her vampire speed, she jumped away from this confinement, while putting a hand over her chest, lowering her sight in a desperate search of a hole on her silk blouse, but her clothes were in an impeccable condition….Not one single dagger had touched her chest!

"What happened?" She murmured to herself, while passing a quick hand through her tangled hair, before hearing walking steps reaching her standing position.

"Ah, finally, sister, you're awake!" Klaus exclaimed to her, while getting rid of his off-white jacket. He reached the sofa and threw the jacket on it, before pulling angrily on his tie and throwing it on the floor.

"What happened, Nick?" She asked him, in a dumfounded state of mind.

"Mother happened, sister. That is what happened!" He answered her, while reaching for a bottle of scotch placed above a console table, before pouring the brownish alcohol into a glass, and gulping the entirety of it.

"I remember having a conversation with her…She…She told me that she was dying, and then I literally don't remember a thing after that." She tried to explain.

"Well, our lovely mother took this opportunity to use her magic on you, and she switched her body with yours, and played us for fools in the meantime, Rebekah." Klaus explained, while saluting her with his glass, before gulping a second one.

"What? So….What day are we?" She asked him, while pointing a finger at him.

"Friday night." He informed her, while avoiding looking at his sister in the eyes.

"Is it before or after the dance?" She asked more of him, while closing her fists in anger, and feeling tears filling her eyes.

"It is after, Rebekah." Klaus responded to her, while seeing his sister bite her bottom lip to forbid herself to burst into tears. "Oh come on, Bekha, spare me this theatrical performance…We're better than this!" He yelled into her face, while hitting his chest with his closed right fist, before adding. "It was a stupid dance, don't show this human sensibility, you're powerful, sister, you're above this. We are, me & you, above this!" He repeated to her.

"What you mean it was a stupid dance? Don't tell me that you went, Nick?" Rebekah asked him, while gesturing with her arms and hands, in anger. "And where is mother?"

"Mother is resting in peace in one of the coffins. May her soul burn in hell…I hope for good this time!" He replied to her, taking the bottle of scotch in his hand, opening the first buttons of his shirt, while taking a sitting position on the sofa, with his feet on the coffee table, before gulping the bottle. "Yes! I went to this stupid dance, you begged me to go. And at that time, I had no idea that mother dearest was playing us for fools, and was once again, trying to kill us all. She, you…I mean: her as you, asked me to go to that stupid dance. You told me that it was very important to you." He explained to her.

"It was important to me, and she knew it!" Rebekah answered him, while sweeping the tears that were rolling on her cheeks.

"Well, think of it as: She at least spared you the agony of being there." He answered her, while staring at the bottle, before turning it in his hands and in front of his eyes.

"What happened to you?" Rebekah asked her brother, while raising one of her eyebrows in suspicion, before sitting in the arm chair in front of her brother's sitting position.

"Nothing" He replied to her, while rising on his feet, approaching the fireplace, before crashing the bottle on the bricks, while seeing the flames rise in front of his eyes.

"Oh, I get it now, Nick." Rebekah said to him, while raising on her feet herself, and crossing her arms in front of her chest. "You went for your pathetic crush on Caroline."

Klaus raised a quick glance toward his sister, before turning his back at her, to hide his facial expression, while closing his fists in anger, while leaning the left side of his body on the fire mantle.

"She means nothing to me; Rebekah, plus, her werewolf boyfriend is back in town!" Klaus responded to his sister.

"You don't say." Rebekah replied, while approaching the fireplace. "Why was he gone in the first place?" She asked him.

Klaus turned his head to stare at his sister, before smirking sadistically.

"Lockwood believed that he was free of my sire bond!" Klaus explained to her, while giggling.

"He is a stupid fool, Nick." Rebekah replied to his brother, while laughing with him.

"It doesn't matter anymore." Klaus said to her, while shaking his head and changing his facial expression to a more serious one. "None of this circus matters to me. We're leaving tomorrow, Rebekah. You need to pack your bags. We'll get the doppelganger, and we'll be long gone from this awful little town!" He added, while passing in front of her standing position, before being held immobile with a firm grip of her right hand placed on his left forearm.

"Do we need to run away all of our life, Nick?" Rebekah asked him, while locking her eyes with his.

"We're not running little sister; we're freeing ourselves from boredom." He replied to her, before trying to free himself from her grip, while being held in place.

"What happened at the dance, Nick?" Rebekah asked him.

Klaus lowered his head for a quick moment, while drifting back into tonight's recent memories…Only a couple of hours earlier…

* * *

She was standing nearer to him, much nearer than at the ball. He could almost feel her breath caressing his cheeks. She was most of the time staring into his eyes, or lowering her stare with shyness, or simply looking at Tyler who was standing behind them, near the dance floor.

"You would have loved the 1920' Caroline. The girls were reckless, sexy; fun. They literally used to dance, till they dropped!" He told her, while smiling heavenly to her, and laughing, before twirling with her on the dance floor.

"I don't suppose it happened to their dance partners?" She maliciously asked Klaus, making him loose his smile in an instant.

"You should be nicer to me. I'm leaving town tomorrow." He replied to her, while staring into her eyes. "I'll invite you to come with me, but we both know that you are not ready to accept my offer." He added to her. She froze all of her movements. "Perhaps one day, in a year, or even a century, you'll turn up at my door, and let me show you what the world as to offer."

He locked his eyes in hers, under a profound feeling that could not be named, before leaning his head nearer Caroline's, and drowning his sight in her beautiful eyes. But, it is with a sigh of repulsion that she cut this magical moment short for the both of them.

He slowly pushed her out of his arms embrace, before lowering his sight and feeling a sharp pain hitting his chest. He recognized that pain. The pain of rejection, the pain of loneliness…He raised his head, while locking his angry and sad eyes into hers.

"You mark my words: a small town boy, a small town life, it won't be enough for you!" He lashed out, while passing beside her and leaving the dance floor.

(Owning only parts of the above text – For the rest, dialogue from 3x20)

* * *

Klaus shook his head to the present time, before freeing his arm from his sister's grip. This all memory lane was unnecessary to him. More urgent manners needed to take priority.

"Go pack your bags!" He ordered Rebekah for the second time, while pointing a finger toward the door.

"Again, Nick? You want to run all your life. Daddy is dead now, mother followed…Can we just settle somewhere, can we just live in quietness for a short moment? Is it too much to ask?" She asked him, with a teary tone of voice.

"Get a grip on yourself, Bekha!" Klaus responded, while locking his eyes with his sister's. "Why would you want to stay in this pathetic little town, for Matt Donovan? The human boy who's been playing you for a fool? And, who's still running after his precious Elena? We're leaving with the doppelganger tomorrow, stop arguing about it, I have an army to build, sister!" He angrily added to her, before storming out of the room, leaving a dumbfounded and speechless Rebekah behind him.

* * *

Unfortunately, his plan of leaving the day after had come to a drastic end for several interferences. Not enough that he had to learn that Alaric Saltzman was transformed by Esther, his own mother, as an Original vampire slayer/hunter, but, he also had to learn by Stefan Salvatore that his sister, Elena Gilbert (his blood bag doppelganger) and most of all: Caroline, were held hostage against their will at the Mystic Falls high school by the said slayer.

"You're asking me to walk into a certain death, Stefan?" Klaus asked.

"Maybe I'm asking you to consider saving your sister?" Stefan replied to him.

They were both standing in front of each other, in a confrontation posture.

"Rebekha?" Klaus asked, while taking an additional walking step to reach Stefan's standing position. "Where is she?" He asked him, before forcefully grabbing his right arm.

"I suggest you lay your hand down." Stefan warned him.

"Or what mate?" Klaus asked him. "Thinking about it, which one is in need of the other the most?" He added to him, while approaching his face from Stefan's.

"Come on Klaus; think for a second…There is too much in stake for you at the moment…Your sister, Elena….Caroline…." Stefan said to him, before locking his eyes with his, while changing the tone of his voice at the mention of Caroline's name,. "In all logic, we have better chances as a team, neither you nor my brother or I, want Alaric to get rid of your life for the time being."

"It must eat you alive, my dear ripper friend that you have no idea from which blood line you are coming from?" Klaus said to him, while smirking.

Stefan took a few steps backward from Klaus's position, while putting both of his hands on each side of his waist.

"So, if I understand correctly." Klaus said to Stefan, while crossing his hands behind his back, and smirking. "I need to serve as bait to a crazy, bad alter ego, Alaric, for you and your brother to save the beautiful Elena in the meantime – While trying to not get myself kill by an ultimate silver weapon created by my dearest mother?" Klaus listed to Stefan, before adding, while raising one of his eyebrows. "Did I get that right?"

"When you say crazy nuts, are you talking about yourself, Klaus?" Damon asked, while getting out of the Gilbert's house, before smirking at him.

"Ah Damon…Mate, I love your sense of humour. We should go out and have a drink together sometimes, or I could simply kill you." Klaus responded sarcastically.

"I will check my calendar, and get back to you!" Damon replied to him, while tilting his head to the right, and maliciously smiling back at the Original.

"Are you with us in the plan?" Stefan asked Klaus, while cutting their ping pong interaction short.

"I'm in the plan for myself, Stefan, until you'll prove to me that we are friends again, I don't think I will team up with you and your brother very soon!" Klaus responded to Stefan, before passing beside him on the sidewalks, and leaving them speechless while glaring at each other.

"You think he meant that he's with us?" Damon asked Stefan.

"Your guess is mine!" Stefan responded to him, while passing a nervous hand through his hair.

* * *

That was hurting like hell. Klaus thought, while being thrown against the wall, by a rabid Alaric Saltzman.

"You like that, don't you?" Alaric mumbled angrily between his teeth, while taking Klaus by his collar, before throwing him on the floor, bending his upper body over him, while holding in his left hand the ultimate stake, lowering it at a near inch of Klaus's chest, while being kick in the stomach by Klaus's right knee, and rolling on the side.

"I'm actually starting to get pissed, mate." Klaus told Alaric, while rolling with him on the high school corridor floor, before pushing his right forearm on his throat. "Now it's getting more like it!" He mumbled, angrily, to his adversary, while trying to hold Alaric immobile, being thrown a second later on the opposite wall, before seeing the slayer falling on the floor in front of his sight with a wood stake placed in his back, and a Stefan Salvatore standing behind the lying body.

"This will not hold him down for long. We don't have a lot of time!" Stefan informed Klaus.

"Give me the weapon!" Klaus ordered Stefan, while handing his hand to him.

"I don't think so." Damon replied, with a sarcastic smile plastered on his face, while grabbing the silver stake from his brother's hands. He looked at it, before being grabbed on his leg and thrown, his face first, on the floor.

One sure thing, though Klaus: Alaric Saltzman was not an easy one to beat! He got on his feet, while watching, for a brief moment, Damon & Stefan Salvatore fight Alaric, before slowly backing away from the scene…He had already gave too much of his time, and played Russian roulette with his hybrid life.

He ran into several corridors, before bumping into Rebekah, who was running toward him, from the opposite site.

"Rebekah!" He screamed at her, while holding her immobile with his hands placed on both of her shoulders. "Are you alright?" He asked his sister.

"I'm fine, Nick! We have to leave now. Alaric Saltzman is a crazy man!" She explained to him, while grabbing his forearms with both of her hands.

"I know." He responded to her, while nodding his head, before adding. "Where's Caroline?"

"She was held prisoner in a class room with me. She was tortured with vervain, but she'll be fine. We need to go, Nick!" She yelled at him, while pulling on his arms.

"No!" He responded, while shaking his head, and adding. "I need to find her."

"What? No! You're playing with your life, and all for this stupid blonde bimbo!" Rebekha tried to make him change his mind.

"Caroline is not a bimbo!" They heard a voice exclaimed, before turning their heads to see Matt Donovan standing behind them.

"Where's Elena?" Klaus asked him.

"Why should I answer you?" Matt asked him, while inflating his torso.

"Oh God" Klaus mumbled in his teeth, while stroking his eyes with his right hand. "What is it with this town and idiots?" He added to himself, before continuing in an angrier tone of voice. "Where is she?"

"She's outside the school now…She's safe!" He replied to Klaus, while turning his sight at Rebekha.

"Then, bring my sister with you outside as well!" He ordered, while pushing Rebekah toward Matt.

"No, Nick, you need to come with us, it's dangerous for you here!" She screamed at him, while turning to look at him.

"Take her!" Klaus ordered Matt, a second time, before storming away, in his vampire speed.

"We have to go!" Matt told Rebekha, while pushing her in front of him.

"Why? It's not like you care if I live or die!" Rebekah exclaimed, while pushing herself away from him.

"Come on, Rebekah…We don't have time for this!" Matt told her, while handing his right hand to her. She put her shaking hand in his, before feeling his fingers closing on hers. "Let's go!" He added, before timidly smiling to Rebekah.

* * *

"Caroline!" Klaus screamed into the corridor, while hearing a whimper coming from an open class door, before storming inside and seeing her tied up to a chair, her face leaning on the desktop. It took him a few seconds to rush at her side. "Are you ok, Love?" He asked her, while kneeling by her side and sliding strands of her hair behind her ears and away from her injured face. "Bastard, what has he done to you?" He murmured, while taking the handkerchief in his hands to untie the knot behind her head, before feeling the intense burn of vervain on his hands. He put the pain in the back of his mind, while untying the fabric around her head, and freeing her mouth from the burning sensation. "It's ok. You'll be ok!" He whispered to her, while closing his fists in anger. Each side of her cheeks was burned badly, and pieces of skin were falling. She mumbled incoherent sounds, while trying to open her eyes. "Shhh…Don't strain yourself." He whispered near her left ear, before adding in a murmur. "Can you…Can you put your arm around my neck?"

Caroline opened her eyes, while blinking several times and responding in a whisper: "Yes!" She murmured, almost incoherently, to him, before slowly raising her left arm around his neck.

"Good, that's my girl!" He added to her, while slowly sliding one of his arms around her waist, and his left hand under her thighs, before lifting her up in his arms.

She instinctively encircled her arms around his neck while leaning her head on his chest, on his right shoulder.

"You'll be alight, love!" He murmured to her, while directing his walk toward the exit of the class room, while lowering his sight on her, only to make sure that she was alright, before very slowly sweet kissing her forehead, and murmuring near her skin. "Now that I have you in my arms, nobody will hurt you!"

* * *

"Then, you'll need to explain the conditions to me, love?" Caroline heard him repeated, while fixating her sight on his mouth and drifting into a semi-conscious state of mind, before feeling a lump forming in her throat. He was standing in a too close proximity of hers, and his intense staring was putting her nerves to an edge that she had never experienced before. She slowly, and nervously, rubbed her hands together. She needed to get a grip on herself in his presence.

"I thought you were only drawing animated shapes, like humans or animals?" She asked, as a diversion, before bypassing his standing position and walking toward the big unfinished canvas. She stood in front of the abstract painting, while closing her eyes to calm herself down. This was ridiculous; she thought to herself, it was obvious to her that the last past day's events had taken the best of her sanity.

"I sometimes express my art in many different ways." He answered her, while taking a standing position at her side, before staring at his art masterpiece.

"Well…" She added, while feeling the fabric of his Hanley, long sleeves t-shirt, touching the skin of her right forearm, before being hit by an intense shiver that took her by surprise. She suddenly pulled her arm away from his. "You're certainly talented."

"So…" He murmured near her right ear, while bending his head nearer to hers. "You came to see me to talk about my art then?" He mockingly asked her.

She turned her head to the right, while meeting the intensity of his stare, before sighing to calm down.

"Of course not, I came because you put Tyler back under you sire bond!" She repeated for the numerous times.

"He was never truly free of my sire bond; Caroline, and that is the part that you can't obviously accept, love!" He responded, bothered.

"Then free Tyler! Let him live his life in peace." She lashed out in his face.

"With you at his side I supposed?" Klaus asked her, while tilting his head to the right.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest, while pouting.

"He almost lost his life because of you!" She repeated.

"He attacked me in his werewolf form, I only protected myself." Klaus responded to her, once again.

"He was jealous…because…" She started explaining to him, before holding her say.

"Because what?" Klaus asked her, while raising one of his eyebrows.

"Because, you dance with me and, because you had to be the hero and save me." She answered him. "And, you perfectly knew that he did not have your strength!" She attacked him.

"And I let him live? No? You should be grateful for my generosity, Caroline. It's certainly not him who carried your fainted body out of the school. Where was your shinning knight that day?" Klaus asked, while making her blush, and turning her sight away from his.

A few parts of her memory were coming back to her, since that awful event….When Alaric had captured her as bait to bring Elena to the school, the Salvatore and Klaus under his spell. She was remembering only now, being carried away by two strong arms, while feeling the sweetness of tender lips caressing her forehead. She had thought for a moment that it had been Tyler, before realizing that it was in reality: Klaus!

"And I already thanked you for saving me." She replied to him, before adding. "But it doesn't change the fact that you won't let Tyler free of your sire bond."

"I thought you had an offer put on the table for me, Caroline, or did I heard you wrong?" Klaus said, while smirking, before sitting on his work table and staring into her eyes.

Devil man… She thought to herself, while turning her head to the right to calm herself down, before making him smirk even more, and thinking that he had her finally exactly where he wanted her to be: in the palms of his hands.

"I…" She started, while turning back her head to face him, and raising her chin in the air.

"Yes?" He asked her, in a mocking tone of voice, while crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"I accept to go on one date with you!" She lashed out at him, before adding. "In the only condition that you will free Tyler from your sire bond and that you'll leave Elena alone for good!"

Klaus leaned his head backward, before bursting into loud laugher.

"That's all you want, love?" He asked her, while giggling.

"I think it's a fair agreement." She added to him, while raising her head.

"You want to try this new agreement again, Caroline?" Klaus asked her, while stepping down of his elevated sitting position, taking a few walking steps to reach her, before bending his head one more time near Caroline's, and drowning his sight in hers. "Ten dates!" He changed the offer, without even blinking for an instant.

"What is telling me that you will keep your end of the bargain?" Caroline asked him. "You almost killed Tyler, and you're using my best friend as a blood bag!" She lashed out at him, even more.

"Because you're afraid to admit it to yourself, but you know me, Caroline. I'll keep my words!" He replied to her, while creating a shiver of apprehension in her entire body.

"Five dates!" She replied to him, without lowering her sight, making him smirk even more.

"Five is the half of ten, love…Aren't you a bit greedy?" He replied to her second offer, before offering himself. "Nine!"

"Fine…" She angrily responded, before adding. "Six dates and this is my finale offer."

"Seven dates plus one kiss tonight, and I promise to free Tyler from my sire bond, plus I will leave Elena alone for the time being." He offered her in return, while locking his eyes with hers, before seeing her blush, and lowering her eyes for the first time.

"Forget it!" She answered him in anger, before turning on herself, and directing her walking steps toward the exit of the room.

"Well, I'm sure that Tyler could be easily convinced to come with me to build my army elsewhere than Mystic Falls, if asked nicely, of course." He said, while passing the tip of his tongue on the length of his bottom lip, before smiling heavenly.

Caroline froze on spot, while closing her eyes and fists in anger, and counting to ten to calm down, before turning to face him.

"Fine…" She said to him, before adding. "Seven dates."

"And…" He asked her, while bending his upper body, and placing his right hand near his right ear, as a mocking gesture.

"…A kiss." She mumbled angrily in her teeth, while lowering her sight, and blushing.

He took a few walking steps toward her, before reaching her standing position, and handing his right hand to her, to which she put her trembling fingers before feeling his hand closing on hers.

"Seven dates, in which in each single one of those, you'll be entirely mine, Caroline…Don't you forget!" He murmured to her, raising her right hand near his mouth, turning it open, before ever so slowly sliding his mouth from her interior hand palm, to the tenderness of her wrist, while intensifying the pressure of his lips.

Caroline closed her eyes for a few seconds, not even able to control herself, and the intense trail of fire created with each of his kisses on her wrist, before feeling this fire reaching every part of her body.

She could only concentrate on the softness of his lips on her skin, while shamelessly wondering the effect of his lips on other parts of her body. As quickly as his lips had kissed her hand and wrist, she found herself free of his embrace. She opened her eyes, only to find him leaning at a near inch of her face.

"Good night, Caroline. I'll contact you soon!" He murmured near her lips, before turning on himself, reaching for his paint brush, and continuing his art work.

Caroline put a hand on her chest, while trying to calm herself down, before storming out of the art room and the house.

Klaus painted for an extra short time, before calling it for the day, closing the lights of his private room, and walking toward the entrance of the Manor while whistling a 1920' melody.

"Rebekah!" Klaus screamed joyfully to his sister, while standing down the stairs, before leaning his upper body on the wooden ramp. "Unpack your bags, sister; we're staying in Mystic Falls after all!" He yelled more, while smirking in a sadistic way, showing sparks of victory in his eyes, before adding in a whisper. "I'll have a couple of dates that I need to attend!"


	2. Popcorn and butter

There was a boy, A very strange enchanted boy. They say he wandered very far, very far Over land and sea A little shy And sad of eye But very wise Was he.

And then one day, A magic day he came my way And while we spoke of many things, fools and kings This he said to me "The greatest thing You'll ever learn Is just to love And be loved In return"

Inspiration for this chapter: Nature boy Lyrics and the Moulin Rouge soundtracks

* * *

Rebekah lowered her upper body to reach a deflated balloon on the gymnasium floor, before straightening herself in a standing position and putting this piece of trash in a garbage bag.

She scattered the gymnasium, before raising her head to look at some decoration that were still hanging from the ceiling, before feeling an emotion of sadness filling her eyes with tears.

"This is stupid Bekha! Get a grip on yourself. This was a stupid dance, with stupid human fools, that you didn't give a crap about. You're better than this, Nick is right!" She mumbled, to herself, between her teeth, while throwing a set of empty plastic cups in a garbage bag.

"And yet, you are here to give a hand to clean this place, a little peculiar would you think?" She heard a voice addressing itself to her.

Rebekah startled, while turning her body around to face Matt Donovan who was taking a few walking steps toward her standing position. She shrugged her shoulders, while passing a quick hand on her teary eyes, before taking from a near table, a few more empty and dirty plastic cups in her hands, to maintain a good composure in front of this young human boy.

"I was in charge of the dance committee; I usually tend to finish my assignment, Matt." Rebekah answered him, while dropping the garbage bag at her feet. "No need for you to be here, really. I can take care of the cleaning all by myself you know. It's not like your blond, bimbo friend, Caroline, will show her pretty face anytime soon." She added to him, while raising her chin in the air, before staring into his eyes, and crossing her arms in front of her chest. "And I don't need you, human boy, as the consolation price of the cleaning committee."

Matt shook his head in disbelief, while biting his bottom lip to calm himself down, before putting his hands on each side of his waist.

"You know what, Rebekah; I don't give a damn anymore! Your highness Original seems to know everything better than everybody else, obviously…So be at it, be the Queen bitch, be as you want to be. But leave the others in peace…And you know what else? I believe that you are feeling like shit for missing the dance and that you want to put your sadness on others. And as for my blond bimbo friend, Caroline, she couldn't make it, and she asked me if I could cover for her, to which I said yes, because I am her friend. To tell you the truth, I don't even know if you will ever understand the concept of friendship, so I pretty much don't care if you like me or not!" He lashed out, angrily at her, while seeing Rebekah become speechless in front of his eyes. He must have been the only person on this earth that had the audacity of putting this ice princess in her rightful place.

Before she could answer him with an offensive come back, he lowered his body near hers, to reach for a garbage bag placed on the table behind them, while grabbing it, and turning his head at a near inch of hers, holding himself immobile, for a few seconds, at a near inch of her own standing position, while staring into Rebekah's eyes. God! She had beautiful eyes, he thought for a moment.

"I'm sorry." She whispered to him, before blushing and swallowing a small lump in her throat, keeping her chin in the air, while feeling the proximity of his body near hers, and the intensity of his stare. She finally coughed; making him took a step backward to detach his body from hers.

"Well, just try to be more considerate next time, would you?" He answered her, while nodding his head, before asking. "So, which part of the gymnasium you want me to help you clean?"

"Well…There is a bunch of confetti on the floor near the entrance door, if you could pass the broom and get rid of it!" She asked him, while lowering her sight.

"Sure!" Matt answered her, while taking a few steps to reach the broom that was placed on top of a near table, taking it in his hands, before staring at her one more time. "And you're welcome!" He added to her, before directing his walking steps toward the door of the gymnasium, leaving Rebekha dumbfounded, and completely lost with all those mixed emotions inside of her.

* * *

Caroline rubbed nervously her hands together, while lowering her head and closing her eyes for a few seconds to calm her nerves down. Then, She look at her watch….7:59 pm….She still had one more minute of peace in front of her. She could do this, yes, she certainly could do it! She was repeating herself none stop inside her mind since she had left her house. She was now fixating the front door of the Mikaelson mansion. She took a last look at the clothes that she was wearing: a purple summery dress, with little white print flowers on the fabric, a fabric that was showing perfectly her small waist, flat white ballerina shoes, and a jeans coat placed on her shoulders. She had put her hair in a loose bun, with strands falling all around her pretty face, a bit of blush on her cheeks, a coat of black mascara, and pink gloss on her lips. She wasn't in need of putting too much effort on herself for Klaus benefit. After all, it was not a date-date; it was an agreement to simply obtain what she wanted from him, at any cost necessary. She kept repeating herself none stop since having received his text message on her cell phone a few hours before:

**I am waiting for you at the Mansion - 8:00 pm I'm looking forward to our first date. Fondly, Klaus.**

She finally found the courage within herself to ring the bell, before standing straight as an "I" in front of the entrance door, her chin raised in the air…Not a chance in hell that he would notice or feel fear in her.

No one knew the agreement that she had previously made with Klaus…No one! Tyler had become the evasive sired boyfriend, once again, and was passing his free time with her, but without fully being emotionally connected to Caroline, his mind always in accordance with his Alpha Master. As for the others, Elena was trying to get back to normality since Alaric had attacked her at school, Jeremy was now back in Mystic Falls, Damon and Stefan were on Alaric's trail, while trying to find where he was hiding. Bonnie was passing her time with her Grimoire in hands to find the missing link to a spell that would basically put Alaric / alter bad ego at arm's length. In between all of this, she was probably in the bottom of everybody's list of problems…Therefore; no one was suspecting her to have made this agreement with the devil himself.

The door finally opened on Klaus. He was wearing a tight black pair of jeans and grey, long sleeves t-shirt, with those said sleeves rolled on his forearms, and the first buttons opened on his chest. His choice of clothes seemed strange at first sight to her. Now it was a sure thing that he would not bring Caroline, in this first date, in one of his fancy restaurants.

"Good evening." He said, while smiling timidly to her, slowly sliding his stare from her face, to her summery dress, her bare legs, before raising his eyes back into hers.

"Ya…Right!" Caroline replied to him, while passing beside him, under the threshold and lowering her stare away from his. Klaus smirked at her nervousness; watching her walk at a near inch of his standing position, before closing his eyes to fully enjoy the delicate smell of her perfume, a hint of roses and jasmine flowers, before closing the door behind them.

"Glad you came." He said, while smiling and turning to face her.

"Well, it's not like I had any other choice in the matter, did I?" She responded to him, while pouting, and crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"It was "your" ideas of agreement, Love, don't ever forget!" Klaus sarcastically replied to Caroline, before crossing his own arms in front of his chest, while making her blush and lowering her sight away from his.

"I didn't know how to dress?" She told him, while shrugging her shoulders, and grabbing nervously the fabric of her dress in her hands.

"You're beautiful, like always." He murmured, while making Caroline turned her head to the right to avoid looking at him. "And, It's entirely my bad, where are my manners, I should have told you my plans for the evening, can you forgive me?" He asked her, while tilting his head and smiling.

"Pff…" Caroline murmured the sound between her teeth, while nervously passing a hand over the folds of her dress. "Sure!" She finally said to him, while taking a quick stare at him.

"Oh, you got to be kidding me!" They both heard a voice say, before turning their heads simultaneously to look at Rebekha, who was coming down the stairs. "What is she doing back in here again, Nick?" She asked him, while pointing a finger at Caroline.

Klaus rolled his eyes, before taking a few walking steps toward his sister standing position, forcefully grabbing her left forearm while dragging her toward the entrance door.

"Isn't it time for you to go pass some quality time at the Grill?" Klaus replied to his sister, while opening the front door, and pushing her outside the house against her will.

"What…Wait…What is this, Nick?" Rebekah yelled, completely dumfounded by his attitude, while raising her stare at his brother and at Caroline. "Oh no…" She added to him, while shaking her head in denial. "Nick! Do not tell me that you want to pass time with this bimbo?"

"None of this needs to be of your concerns, Bekha." Klaus replied to his sister, while raising one of his eyebrows, and putting his hands on each side of his waist, in a confrontational gesture, before reaching for a twenty dollar bill in his left jeans pocket, and sliding it forcefully in Rebekah's hands. "Here, twenty bucks. Go find yourself a nice human boy, like Matt Donovan, and have a nice milkshake with him. I guess it would be the only thing that he would be able to afford for you, anyway. So, tell him that it is your treat tonight." Klaus said, before slamming the door in her face, leaving a mouth open and speechless Rebekah behind the panel.

"I'll make you pay for this, Nick!" Rebekah screamed from the top of her lungs, while hitting the front door with her closed fists, before swearing between her teeth, and taking her first steps away from the door.

Klaus watched the closed door for a few seconds, before only hearing the silence, smirking, and turning on himself to face Caroline that was angrily looking at him, probably for the "Donovan" remark made to his sister.

"I…" He mumbled, as an excuse, while raising his right hand in front of her, before seeing Caroline turn her back at him, while walking away in direction of the living room, making him close his fists in anger and bite his lower lip. That was the result of his big mouth and stupid behavior in front of his sister. This night was not starting as well as he thought it would be. And it would probably not be as easy as he firstly thought either.

* * *

Matt put the dirty cloth on his shoulders, while sliding a couple of clean wine glasses on a shelf. It was a quiet night at the Mystic Grill.

"What does a girl needs to do to have some quality service around here?" He heard a feminine voice calling him.

Matt turned to see Rebekah, who was sitting at the bar counter, with her right elbow and hand placed on its wood to hold her head.

"Twice in a day, it must be my lucky one." Matt mumbled to himself, while rolling his eyes, and getting rid of his blue apron, before approaching her.

"I'm really not in the mood for your childish boy remarks, Matt." Rebekah responded, while snacking on some peanuts placed in a bowl.

"Well, it is unfortunate for me that I have to serve you then? What will it be?" He asked her, while crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Give me something strong!" She asked him, while pouting some more.

"You're under age, I can't." He answered, while shaking his head.

"Oh, you can't be serious? You're going to put the "under age" thing on me, really Matt?" Rebekah replied to him, while shaking her head in disbelief.

Matt stayed on his position, while titling his head to the left and keeping his stare in hers.

"Ok, fine. Give me a vanilla milkshake then." She accepted, while pouting.

"That is what I am calling going from one extreme to the other." Matt said to her, while smirking and grabbing the shaker in his hands.

"All of this is Nick's fault!" She mumbled angrily in her teeth, while raising her stare at Matt. "You want to have a milkshake with me, it's my treat?"

"If you don't mind, your brother is my least favorite subjects of conversation. As for the invite, I can't, I'm working, Rebekha, I know you don't understand the concept, but it's my reality." Matt answered her.

"It's a milkshake, Matt, not a roll in the hay behind the counter!" She angrily replied to him.

"Ok, ok…You're right!" He exclaimed, while gesturing with his hands. "Thanks! It's almost my break time anyway…I accept!" he added, while seeing her smile at him.

Matt Donovan, if you are not careful this Original vampire girl is going to be the death of you! He thought in his head, while smiling back at her.

* * *

"So, we're staying in here the all night then?" Caroline asked Klaus, while nervously rubbing her hands together and walking beside him into the corridor that were leading them toward the kitchen.

Klaus turned his head and sight to look at her, with the biggest smirk plastered on his face.

"Evening, I meant the all evening!" She rectified to him, while blushing intensively. Caroline, get a grip, for God sake…She talked herself to do in her head, while closing her eyes for a few seconds.

"Do you mind if we do?" He asked her, while pushing the swinging doors of the ultra-modern / high-tech kitchen, while holding the doors, like a true gentleman, for her to pass beside him.

"No, it's fine." She answered him, while shrugging her shoulders, and scattering the top of the brand hi-tech-kitchen. "Wow, you certainly love to live in luxury, aren't you?" She said to him, while sliding her fingers on the granite counter.

"It's not so much a question of luxury, Love, than a question of having the best elements to cook the best food dishes." He replied, while smiling to Caroline, directing his walking steps toward the double doors stainless steel fridge. "You like pizza, chicken wings, popcorn?" He asked her, before opening the stove and sliding a platter with a pizza on its top, inside. "I made the paste myself." He told her, proudly, before switching the heat on, rubbing his hands together in anticipation of eating, and turning to stare at her, before suddenly losing his smile. "What is it, Love?" He asked her.

"You made the paste of the pizza yourself?" Caroline repeated, in surprised, and with the widest opened eyes possible, in complete astonishment.

"Yes." Klaus mumbled, while smiling and lowering his head, before shrugging his shoulders. "I love to cook, do you?" He asked her, while taking a plate of chicken wings in his hands, and sliding it on the higher level of the stove.

What was she doing exactly? Caroline thought to herself…Well she was apparently discussing cooking skills with the one and only Klaus Mikaelson. Yes, the sadistic murderer, and in his high-tech kitchen, while waiting for a pizza and some chicken wings to cook. She shook her head to get a grip on reality.

"Well, I'm able to boil water, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. What else; I can make an awesome chocolate cake. I put together great salads, and I have an exquisite recipe of grill cheese, Also, a family one of salmon casserole and I can bake some kick ass breakfast omelets." She listed to him, raising proudly her chin in the air, while opening the box of popcorn and taking a bag from its inside, before seeing Klaus lean his back on the counter, crossing his legs in front of him, with his arms crossed as well over his chest, with the biggest smile on his face.

"Why are you smiling at me that way?" Caroline asked him; while blushing and suddenly feeling very uncomfortable in his presence and insistent stare.

"It's the kick ass breakfast omelets effect, and it is also because I find you fascinating, Caroline" He said with great honestly to her.

"Well, I don't find that particularly funny, and I am far from being fascinating." She replied to him, while perfectly knowing what he was thinking. She took the bag of popcorn in her right hand, before opening the door of the microwave, sliding it inside, while starting the timer and suddenly feeling his warm breath caressing the lobe of her left ear.

"I was wondering if one morning, in a near future, you could cook one of your special omelets for me." He murmured, while slowly sliding his hands on her hips.

Caroline closed her eyes, while feeling a range of intense shivers hitting her entire body all at once, with the additional intense fire hitting her cheeks.

"I highly doubt it." She replied to him, while squirming herself away from his too near proximity, before standing on the other side of the kitchen isle, far away from temptation.

He lowered his sight for a short moment, while losing his smile and taking a few walking steps toward the fridge, opening its doors once again, before taking a blood bag from its inside.

"Do you want blood?' He asked Caroline, while holding the bag in his hands.

"No, thank you." She answered him, while swallowing a small lump of nervousness in her throat.

"I hope you don't mind if I warm some for myself, then?" He asked her, while taking a cup and filling it with the red elixir.

"I'm actually surprised that you don't have a human bag hiding somewhere in your pantry's kitchen?" She sarcastically and hurtfully asked him, raising one of her eyebrows, while crossing her arms in front of her chest in a mechanism of protection against her attraction to him.

Klaus raised an angry stare at her, while biting the inside of his cheeks, and directing his walking steps toward the microwave, taking the popcorn from its inside, opening the bag, before pouring its inside into a big bowl.

"I guess in your pretty little head, I deserved it?" He simply responded to her, while sliding his cup inside and starting the microwave timer once again.

"What do you mean in my head?" She replied to him, in shock. "I'm sorry…It's not like you're having angel wings attached to your back, if you really need to know. You basically tortured innocent victims." She added to him, while gesturing with her arms.

"I'm a vampire, Caroline. I'm not a church chorale boy." He replied to her in anger, while hitting his chest with his right closed fist. "At least I am not looking away when somebody is showing me a blood bag, like a virgin one." He lashed out at her.

"Oh!" She yelled the sound of anger, while putting both of her hands on each side of her waist, without being able to say another word to him.

Klaus took the popcorn bowl in his hands, while showing it to her.

"Butter on your popcorn or not?" He asked, while locking his eyes with Caroline's.

"Pfff..." She mumbled angrily the sound between her teeth, while turning her head to avoid his insistent glare, before crossing her arms in front of her chest. She was mad as hell at him, and it was not butter on her popcorn that would alleviate her attitude toward him.

* * *

"What did you do?" Matt asked one of his co-workers, while watching Rebekah laugh, yell, twirl, playing pool with a bunch of strangers that were as drunk as she seemed to be.

"Nothing" The guy answered him, while shrugging his shoulders. "She asked for several bottle of Scotch and Brandy, so, I gave the bottles to her!" He explained to Matt, before adding. "Don't worry she paid for them!"

"It's not that you moron. She's under age, man." Matt told him, while punching his closed right fist on his upper left arm. "Damn!" Matt added more to himself, before storming in Rebekah's direction.

"Wooo…" Rebekah exclaimed, while raising her arms in the air, and twirling even more, celebrating a recent win at the pool table, before drinking from her Scotch bottle, and passing an arm around a guy's neck. "I won! That means you are paying the next round."

"You had enough!" She heard Matt telling her, while seeing him grab the bottle from her hands.

"Hey! Give my bottle back to me, Matt!" She yelled back at him, while taking an unsteady walking step toward his position, before raising a hand to catch the bottle from his hand.

"I don't think so!" Matt replied to her, while raising the bottle even higher above his head.

"Why? You want me to beg you for it, or maybe you want something else? They all want that anyway." She said, while gluing her body on his, caressing suggestively his chest with her hands.

"Rebekah, get a grip and stop this." Matt replied to her, while grabbing her wrists with his other hand.

"Hey, you… Let her go! We were having fun!" The wasted young man, who was playing pool with Rebekah said to Matt, while grabbing his arm.

"Let go of my arm, man!" Matt warned him. "She's under age, and you made her drink."

"I didn't know that she was under age, I swear. She told me that she was older!" The man replied to Matt, while shaking his head, before storming out of the place.

"Look what you did…" Rebekha mumbled between her teeth to Matt, while grabbing his shoulders to help her stand on her two feet.

"Well, you'll thank me for it later!" Matt replied to her, before feeling her body fallen on the floor, catching her in the nick of time, before raising her unconscious self in his arms. "Great! I only needed that in my life. And I still have one hour of shift to do, before taking you back home." He mumbled angrily in his teeth.

* * *

"Oh my God, look at all of these movies!" Caroline exclaimed to Klaus, like a little girl entering a candy store, while passing a hand on the wall build-in shelves, before taking a look at the theater room: comfortable black leather sofa, beautiful recliners, huge TV plasma screen, high tech sound system, and many laminated posters of classical movies: Titanic, Gone with the wind, Dracula? Caroline saw the strange choice, before turning on herself and pointing it to Klaus, while raising one of her eyebrows.

"I have a wicked sense of humor " He said to her, with the biggest smirk, while winking at her. "You like watching movies?" Klaus asked her more, while putting the plates of food and bowl of popcorn on a side table.

"I love it!" Caroline answered him, while nodding her head, smiling heavenly and continuing to look around. "You love it too as I can see?" She noticed, while turning her sight at him, and getting rid of her jeans jacket, before putting it on the top of the leather sofa, without noticing that Klaus was watching very carefully all of her movements.

"Well, when you've been mostly alone all your life, like I was, I guess, it's a way of passing the time." He shrugged, with a tone of sadness in his voice, making Caroline raise her head to look at him in surprise.

"What do you want to drink, love?" He asked, subtly changing the subject, while directing his walking steps toward a wooden panel in the wall, before opening the panel door to a small build-in fridge. "Coke, Sprite, Ice tea, Orange soda – Or I could go in the cellar and pick up a chardonnay bottle if you want?" He asked her, while kneeling in front of the choices, before turning his head to stare her. "Caroline?"

"Orange soda is fine." She replied, while rubbing nervously her hands together, feeling torn in her stomach will all mixed, unexplained range of emotions that were coming at her, in intense waves.

Klaus took her choice in his right hand, before sliding it in front of her in the table, and taking a sitting position near Caroline, on the sofa.

"What do you want to watch?" He asked, while taking the remote control in his hand, pushing a button, before making appear in front of their eyes, a list of movies.

"Oh, it's so cool!" Caroline exclaimed, while smiling heavenly, taking in her hands a napkin and a piece of the pizza, before getting rid of her ballerina shoes, and sliding her foot under her thighs, in a sitting position on the sofa. "Mm…" She mumbled her appreciation, while savoring the food. "This is so good."

"I've told you." Klaus grinned proudly, to which she rolled her eyes at him – He think so much of himself…She thought in silence in her head.

"So: action, comedy, romance…historical?" He asked, while turning his head to look at her.

"I don't care. You can choose the one you desire, I've never chosen a movie before anyway." Caroline replied to him, while shrugging her shoulders.

"You've never chosen a movie that you wanted to see?" Klaus asked, in complete disbelief, with her present answer, to which she shook her head to him.

"It's ok; I don't mind. It's always others who are choosing for me!" She explained to him.

"It's maybe the time that you choose what you really want for yourself, Caroline?" He said, while making her blush at his double meaning, before taking her chin in his right hand to raise her head to make her look at him. "I mind. What do "YOU" want to see? Not the others, you?" He asked her, while locking his eyes with Caroline's for a few seconds.

"I…" She started answering, while trying to detach her sight from his, without being able to succeed. "I like musical." She confessed, realizing that she had never shared this liking interest with anybody else but him before.

"Alright then…" He said; smiling, while letting go of his grip on her chin, before showing her the list.

"Oh! I've never seen "Moulin Rouge"!" She exclaimed, excited, while pointing a finger at the gigantic screen.

"As you wish, Love" He replied, while smiling.

He watched her from the corner of his eyes. She took a comfortable position on the sofa, before startling in surprise at all the lights going off at once, leaving the room completely in the dark.

"I closed the lights with the remote control." Caroline heard his warm, sexy, and accented voice, whispering in her left ear, feeling all cozy and warm inside of her body all of a sudden.

"Oh" She answered him, while swallowing a small lump in her throat, in apprehension of this date.

"Relax…" He murmured into her left ear, before seeing him grab the bowl of popcorn, raising his feet on the table, while taking a bunch in his hands, before crunching at them. "Popcorn…" He asked her, while handing the bowl to her.

How many dates she had agreed to be with him, again? She thought, inside of her mind, while closing her eyes, and putting a hand on her chest to calm herself down.

* * *

"OK, could you just stand on your own, while leaning on the truck for two seconds?" Matt asked Rebekah, who was mumbling incoherent words, in her semi-state of consciousness.

Matt reached for the truck key in his right jeans pocket, before opening the passenger door, and sliding his left arm around Rebekah's waist.

"Where are we going?" She finally was able to whisper to him.

"I'm bringing you home." Matt told her, while raising her body in his arms.

"But we can't…" Rebekah mumbled more, while opening one eye and adding. "My brother is having a date with his dumb bimbo!"

"What did you just say?" Matt asked her, while raising his head and eyebrows, before seeing her close her eyes again. He shook his head, and thought that she was probably having delusional images in her head.

He closed the passenger door, before walking to the other side of the truck, and taking his sitting position on the driver seat.

"Matt…" She whispered, while grabbing his right arm.

"Yes, Rebekah?" He asked her.

"I wanted so much to be at the dance." She whispered to him, while half open eyes.

"I know" He responded, while smiling and nodding his head, before seeing her drift for good into unconsciousness, and starting the engine.

* * *

Caroline stared at the TV screen, while watching a very powerful musical scene between the two actors.

[Ewan:]

Love is many splendored things,

Love lifts us up where we belong,

All you need is love!

[Nicole:]

Please, don't start that again

Caroline could feel Klaus's insistent glance watching every of her reactions. She swallowed a small lump in her throat while hearing him move, so slowly, before sliding his body on the sofa nearer to hers. His legs almost touching Caroline's, his head turned in her direction.

[Ewan:]

All you need is love!

[Nicole:]

A girl has got to eat!

[Ewan:]

All you need is love!

[Nicole:]

She'll end up on the street! (sigh)

[Ewan:]

All you need is looooove!

[Nicole:]

Love is just a game.

She also felt his arm slowly placing itself on the back of her shoulders and neck. She started to feel nervousness and anticipation hitting every parts of her entire body, nodes from excitement forming in her stomach, butterflies attacking her nervous system. What was happening to her?

[Ewan:]

I was made for loving you baby,

You were made for loving me.

[Nicole:]

The only way of loving me baby,

…Is to pay a lovely fee.

She closed her eyes; at the exact moment she felt his finger reaching the hair clip in her hair, liberating the cascade on her shoulders, before feeling his fingers sliding through them, massaging her scalp in slow caresses, before caressing her neck, making her tilt her head backward, while opening her mouth in anticipation of more of his expertise.

[Ewan:]

Just one night,

Give me just one night.

[Nicole:]

There's no way,

Cause you can't pay.

[Ewan:]

In the name of love!

One night in the name of love!

[Nicole:]

You crazy fool,

I won't give in to you.

"Caroline" He whispered his lips on top of her left earlobe, while sliding his left hand around her waist.

"Mm…" She mumbled the sound to him, her eyes still closed, in a trance of pure bliss, lost in a world of unreality.

"Love…I know that you want it as much as I want it…But…" He murmured to her, while putting his lips on the back of her neck, in an almost none perceivable kiss, making her moan sounds of pleasure, while noticing that his lips were the softest caress she had ever experienced on her skin. "But you'll resent me if I kiss you on the lips on the first date…Perhaps in the next dates, when you'll be ready?" He explained in a whisper to her.

Caroline suddenly got back to reality, while opening her eyes widely and turning her sight to the left to stare into his eyes, before lowering them to his mouth for a short moment, and then back into his stare.

"Nick!" They heard a voice calling them, while seeing the lights suddenly open, Caroline detaching herself of his embrace in a matter of seconds.

"Tell me what now Rebekah?" He mumbled angrily in his teeth, while rising on his feet and taking a few walking steps to face his sister, while putting his hands on each side of his waist. He didn't notice that Caroline had grabbed her jeans jacket on the back of the sofa; slip her feet in her ballerina shoes, and rose herself in a standing position, while slowly directing her steps toward the exit of the room.

"Vomit" she whispered to him, while putting a hand on top of her mouth.

"Ok, that's it little sister!" He lashed out, while grabbing Rebekah by her left arm. "You'll show respect to Caroline in this house!"

"No Nick! You don't understand…" She stuttered in her teeth. "I'm going to vomit!" She added to him, before bending her body and throwing up on his boots.

"Oh…You got to be kidding me!" Klaus exclaimed in frustration, while passing a rapid hand through his hair and on his face, before raising his sight and seeing Caroline standing under the arch door.

"Good night" She simply said to him, while locking her eyes with his for a few seconds, before leaving the room.

Klaus finally turned his sight on the screen, while hearing the scene:

[Ewan:]

Don't, leave me this way.

I can't survive, without your sweet love,

Oh baby, don't leave me this way.


	3. In between - Sparking diamonds

The French are glad to die for love... They delight in fighting duals but, I prefer a man who lives and gives expensive jewels.

A kiss on the hand may be quite continental, But diamonds are a girl's best friend. A kiss may be grand, but it won't pay the rental on your humble flat, or help you feed your pussy cat.

Men grow cold as girls grow old, And we all lose our charms in the end. But square-cut or pear-shaped, These rocks don't lose their shape. Diamonds are a girl's best friend!

**Nicole Kidman / Moulin Rouge**

* * *

"Mm….It smells good, what are you cooking, Mama?" Caroline asked the sheriff Forbes, while bending her head on top of the stove.

"Carbonara spaghetti, sweetie, I'm cooking your favourite dish." Liz answered Caroline, while winking at her, before turning the spoon in the casserole.

"Well, it's smell delicious!" Caroline added to her mother, in a twirl of her skirt, placed in her hands.

"Thank you, though; I forgot, and now I'm missing garlic." Liz said to her daughter, while rolling her eyes. "You can't have a nice Carbonara without garlic?" Liz sighed.

"It's not a problem. I can go pick some garlic at Daisy's if you want me too?" Caroline asked her mother, while tilting her head.

"Would you? Sure, if you don't mind!" Liz replied to her, while caressing Caroline's left cheek.

"Not at all" Caroline replied, while taking a few walking steps to reach her cross-body bag and her car keys placed on a near console table, before turning on herself and staring at her mother's back. "Are you ok, Mum?" She asked her, while walking toward her and putting her right hand on Liz's left forearm.

"What? Of course, I'm ok sweetie, why are you asking?" Liz replied, with a timid smile on her lips.

Caroline tilted her head to the right, while returning a smile to her mother. Liz closed her eyes, while getting rid of her apron, bending her head, before looking straight into her daughter's eyes.

"The council is getting nervous again." She murmured to Caroline.

"Do they suspect?" Caroline started saying, before closing her own eyes.

"I don't think so. Not that I know of. Carole and I, we're trying our best to ease their concerns in every assembly. She's as much afraid for Tyler, that I am for you!" Liz said to Caroline.

Caroline approached her mother standing position, before encircling Liz's shoulders of her arms and hugging her mother.

"It's going to be ok, mum, I'll make it ok!" Caroline said to her.

Liz gently pushed Caroline away from their embrace, before drowning her sight in hers.

"I'm afraid for you, Caroline." Liz confessed.

Caroline took the hands of her mother in hers, before squeezing them as a comforting gesture.

"Don't be, because I have everything under control. Everything will be fine!" She said once, before letting go of her grip on Liz's hands, and taking a few walking steps toward the exit of the kitchen.

"I'm afraid that one day Klaus will ask me to repay his help given the day he saved your life." Liz admitted to her daughter.

Caroline startled at her mother's say, while freezing all her movements, and closing her eyes.

"It's because of him that I was in that situation to start with." Caroline mumbled, angrily, between her teeth.

"He's a very powerful man, Caroline, and I don't think he is seeing it that way." Liz responded, while rubbing her hands together.

"Well, it's his damn problem, isn't it? And, it is certainly not ours." Caroline replied, while turning on herself, before waving a hand at her mother and adding with a big smile plastered on her face. "I'll be back soon with the garlic in my hands!"

But while walking toward the entrance of her house, the only thing Caroline could think of was how difficult it would be for her to handle Klaus.

* * *

"Where are you?" Caroline asked Tyler, while answering her cell phone, at the exact same time she was walking on the sidewalks of the busiest shopping streets of Mystic Falls.

"I'm ….Listen Care; I won't be able to meet with you tonight." Tyler mumbled nervously to her.

Caroline stopped her walking pace, before raising her head, and closing her eyes.

"And why is that, Tyler?" She asked, while retaining her need to burst all her anger at him, knowing perfectly well in advance what his answer would be.

"Klaus needed me for something, and I couldn't say no." He mumbled, more uncomfortable than ever.

"Klaus…" She pronounced the first name, while closing her left fist in anger, before adding. "He needed you every night of this week, Tyler?"

"I know, but …I just…He needs me that is all!" Sired Tyler responded.

"Well, don't call me later then, because I'll be busy too!" She angrily responded to him, before closing her cell phone. "Grr…" She mumbled the sound, while throwing her cell phone in her handbag, before pushing the entrance door of the fruits and vegetables grocery, while taking a basket in her hands. "Hello Daisy!" She exclaimed to a sexagenarian lady, who was standing behind the counter of the cashier, while flipping through a gossip magazine.

"Well, hello there, Caroline…Tell me, what brings you here at this late hour, sweetie?" Daisy asked her, while dropping her magazine from her hands.

"Mum decided to make Carbonara Spaghetti, but, she had forgotten about the garlic." She relied to the elderly lady, with a smile and while shrugging her shoulders. "So, I'll pick some, and see what great fruits and vegetables you have on sale this week, Daisy."

"It's a quiet night, sweetheart, just a couple of customers, take your time." The lady responded to her, before taking the tabloid magazine back into her hands.

Caroline walked through several aisles of fruits, before taking a plastic bag and sliding in its inside a couple of red apples. She did not hear the door bell ringing in the front of the store, neither felt the insistent stare directed at her, or the footsteps on the wooden floor, but she certainly heard the sound of an English velvety voice in her ears.

"Good evening." She heard the greeting, while closing her eyes and clenching her fists.

She reopened them and without giving him the time of the day, she continued to walk through the aisles of the store, while grabbing a branch of garlic placed on a hook.

"Ah, don't be angry, love. You most know that garlic is an urban legend about vampires, it won't keep me away." Klaus smirked through his explanation, while titling his head to the right to take a glimpse at her, before placing his body in front of Caroline's walking path.

"Oh, what a pity, a girl can dream, can she?" She replied to him, while angrily putting the garlic in the basket that she was carrying in her hands. "I would have put it around my neck to keep you far away from me, even at the risk to burn myself to death." She busted angrily in his face, before taking a few walking steps toward the vegetables section of the store.

"Oh come on, Caroline. Our first date was not as bad as you had thought, say it? We had a good time. I'll give you that it ended kind of a sour note, because of my delightful sister. But, I'm sure you can really keep a grudge on me for that? Can I be forgiven?" Klaus asked Caroline, while putting an open palm hand on his chest, placed in front of his heart, while giving her the puppy eyes.

"Oh…." Caroline mumbled, angrily, between her teeth, while rolling her eyes, shaking her head, without being able to make a coherent sentence.

She walked by Klaus's side, before directing her pace toward Daisy at the front cashier counter.

"So, we're playing the hot and cold game, as I can see?" Klaus mumbled sarcastically, while walking by Caroline's side. "Afraid of being seen with me in public, as I can see… We had an agreement Caroline, and **"you"** made the said agreement." He reminded her, in a firm tone of voice, while taking her basket away from her hands, dropping it on the floor, before grabbing her shoulders to make her face him.

"I made the agreement of accepting to be in your company for seven dates, not being glued to you 24/7. For the time being, I would like to keep it a secret as long as possible." She mumbled, angrily, in her teeth, while feeling his fingers burn her shoulder's skin through her t-shirt.

Klaus startled, while biting his bottom lip, before hiding his pain behind a fake smile.

"Not sure that this would be a fair agreement for me then, especially if you want Tyler to be free of his sire bond?" Klaus warned her, tit for tat.

Caroline raised her chin in anger, while crossing her arms over her chest.

"Ya, about Tyler … Don't even think that I did not notice your new plan of keeping him away from me." She busted, while taking a walking step away from his too near and too dangerous standing position.

"All is fair while playing a game of power, Love." He replied, while bending his head and locking his eyes with Caroline's.

She swallowed a lump in her throat, before suddenly staring at the front of the store, while sensing a sudden danger. In a matter of seconds, Klaus grabbed Caroline in his vampire speed, while putting his right hand over her mouth to silence her, before quickly hiding themselves.

Daisy raised her sight from the tabloid magazine that she was reading, while smiling heavenly.

"Mr. Salztman…It's been quite a long time, since your last visit, how have you been?" She asked the man who just had push the entrance door of the store.

The dark man took a few steps into the store, while scattering the aisles deviously.

"Don't make a sound!" Klaus whispered to Caroline, his lips placed near her left earlobe, his left arm and hand encircling her waist, his right hand still positioned to cover her mouth. "I'll let go of my hand, but you have to promise to stay silent, Caroline?" He murmured, to which she nodded her head in approval, before feeling the release of his hand grip.

He slowly turned Caroline around to face him; she raised her sight in Klaus's. They were now standing in this small adjacent closet/locker room, with a couple of empty cardboard boxes that must have been used for the transportation of the fruits/vegetables, explaining the lack of space and their bodies proximity in this small habitable.

"I left town for a couple of days." Alaric Saltzman responded evasively to Daisy, while taking slow, calculated steps, in the small fruits aisles, his eyes studying every movement in the store, his new faculty of hearing in search of the slightest unusual noise.

"Oh…Ok, then, Mr. Saltzman." Daisy responded to him, while raising one of her eyebrows in suspicion of his unusual behaviour.

"Alaric Saltzman" Klaus mouthed the name on his lips, his forehead near Caroline's, to which she nodded her head in a silent response, before recognizing the voice behind the closed door, and grabbing Klaus's forearms to keep her balance. She had no time to analyze her feelings right now, but for the strangest of reasons, she felt safe with him at her side. "Don't make a single sound!" He mouthed more, while raising his right hand to her face, sliding one of his fingers on her parted lips, before pushing it further on her mouth to sign her to keep quiet, her eyes locked with his, while feeling a range of shivers hitting her spin. They were so close to each other…

"Can I be of any help?" Daisy screamed, while bending her upper body on the counter, to watch Alaric more carefully.

"No, thank you." He mumbled, angrily, between his teeth, while starting to lose his patience with this annoying woman. "I'm fine; I will only take a quick look around." He added, before grabbing a basket in his hands, while keeping his stare toward the back of the store.

"Sure, take your time, Mr. Saltzman" Daisy responded, while shaking her head and taking the magazine back in her hands.

Klaus suddenly turned Caroline's body around, while pushing her on the wall, his hand back on her mouth, while leaning his body on her back to protect her.

Alaric held his walking pace, while noticing a basket filled with products left on the floor, but no one around it. He stood immobile with his gaze fixated on a closet door, before slowly bending his upper body to let go of his own empty basket, while dropping it slowly on the floor and avoiding making any additional noise, sliding his hand inside his leather jacket and slowly grabbing the ultimate dagger weapon.

He took additional walking steps before grabbing the closet handle, turning it slowly and opening the door widely in front of his sight with the dagger rose above his head. He froze all his movements and held his gesture, with an open mouth, shocked expression, on his face.

"Bang-Bang…" A young boy yelled the sound, while pointing a water gun in direction of Alaric's chest, before triggering the mechanism, and sprinkling water all over him. "You're dead!" The child added.

"Christopher! What in God's name are you doing?" Alaric heard a female voice screaming to the young boy, before slowly sliding the dagger back into his leather jacket.

"What did you do to this man?" The mother asked the young boy, while grabbing forcefully his left hand, before bending her body to angrily stare into her son's eyes. "And what were you doing in there. I've already told you to never hide in the cleaning closet!" She screamed at the young boy, before turning her sight toward Alaric. "I'm so sorry…He always does these kind of things."

"It's ok" Alaric mumbled between his teeth, while turning his back on them and walking rapidly toward the front of the store, before pushing the exit door and storming out in a matter of seconds.

"I'm very sorry, once again." The woman screamed, while dragging the young boy behind her. "And you, young man, don't ever do this again!"

"But, mummy….I was just playing!" The young boy tried to explain.

Caroline's eyes remained closed for a few more seconds; she could feel every tense muscle in Klaus's body. She finally reopened them, while seeing him stretch his left arm to reach a switch light on the wall, before raising her chin to make Caroline stare into his eyes.

"Listen to me, Caroline. You'll go to the front of the store. You'll pay for your groceries. Then, you'll take your groceries bag, go directly to your car and drive straight to your home, and you will stay there. Do you understand me, Love?" He asked, while grabbing her shoulders and staring into her eyes.

"Yes…" She responded, while nodding her head to him. "What are you going to do?" She asked him.

Klaus turned his head, while staring at the closed door for a brief instant, assuring himself that their surroundings were safe.

"I'll try to follow him for a moment." He explained, while staring into her eyes, before suddenly smirking and lowering his head near her, sliding his hands through her hair, while turning a strand around his fingers. "Why, Love? Are you worrying for my safety?" He asked Caroline, mockingly.

"What? No…" She mumbled between her teeth, before pushing herself away from the contact of his arms, and adding. "Not even the least. If you were dead, I would have six less dates to endure!" She added, while putting her right hand on the door handle, before being retain with his hand covering hers and his lips touching her right earlobe.

"And yet, Love, the first thing that you've thought of losing if you would be dying was those dates with me." He murmured, with a seductive tone of voice. Caroline startled with surprise at his saying, before seeing him turn the door handle and let her leave their safety nest.

* * *

Matt Donovan reached the juke box machine, while wiping his wet hands on his blue apron, before pushing a button, and let the music fill the emptiness of the bar. He took a broom in his hands to sweep the wooden floor of the restaurant. They had closed early tonight, it was not even seven o'clock and yet the close sign was placed in front of the entrance door.

He needed extra money, therefore, he had said yes to the offer of a night inventory, when the other employees, had in reverse, welcomed the opportunity of a free night far away from the obligation of their work.

"La, La, La, La, La La - La…" He mumbled the melody joyfully, on an old Bee Gees song. "…Cause we're living in a world of fools, breaking us down, when they all should let us be, we belong to you and me….La la la la…" He continued singing, before jumping out of his body, and dropping his broom on the floor, while putting a hand over his chest, breathless. "Rebekah, for God sake you can't startle people like this!" He exclaimed, while raising his sight at her.

"I'm sorry." She responded to him, while rubbing her hands nervously together.

"How did you even get in here, anyway?" He asked her, while gesturing nervously with his hands, before seeing her roll her eyes at his question. "And, why am I asking?" He added, while shaking his head, in disbelief of his own stupid question.

"I wasn't spying on you or anything, Matt." She explained, while taking a few additional steps to reach the jukebox. "Oh, disgusting…" She mumbled between her teeth, with a disdain look on her face. "I hate 70' music."

"So, you're here to discuss your taste in music?" Matt asked, while passing a hand on his face, to calm himself down.

"No" She answered, while blushing and shrugging her shoulders. "I'm…" She started explaining to him, without being able to make a coherent sentence.

"Ok, Rebekha, I don't have time for this!" He informed her, while shaking his head.

"I…I wanted to thank you for the other night. You took care of me, and I'm not used of having someone taking care of me. Except maybe my brother, when he is not daggering me every chance he got." She explained, with a somehow sarcastic tone of voice, while looking at the selection of songs in the jukebox.

Matt raised his eyebrows in surprise, with a timid smile placed on the corner of his lips.

"Wow! A truthful "thank you" from you highness Mikaelson" He exclaimed, with a mocking tone of voice, before adding more seriously. "I did what any gentleman would have done in this situation." He replied to her, while bending his upper body to pick up the broom on the floor. "Now if you would excuse me, I need to work." He added to her, while starting to sweep the floor again.

"Work?" She asked him in surprise, before adding. "But the sign up front on the door says it's closed!"

"And that did not forbid you to enter – That fact is actually surprising to me?" He replied, mockingly, while crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"I'm not easily forbidden to do anything." She answered, while smirking back at him.

"That I can certainly believe it…" He answered. "I volunteered to take care of the bar inventory tonight, so, therefore I'm working." He explained to her, while tilting his head to the right.

"Oh, how interesting…" She replied, while rolling her eyes, before adding. "Do you ever make time for fun Matt Donovan?" She asked. "Well, I'll leave you to your boring inventory, then." She added to him, while nervously sliding her hands in her jeans pockets, before passing beside him toward the back door.

Matt watched her pass slowly by his side, observing her in the corner of his eyes, before grabbing her left upper arm to stop Rebekah from leaving.

"Wait…I think I know why you felt the way you did the other night." He tried to explain to her.

She lowered her sight to look at his hand placed on her forearm, before raising her eyes in his.

"And what was that?" She asked him, while raising her chin in the air.

"You wanted to be treated like a normal teenager girl for once." He explained, while keeping his stare in hers. "And you missed that chance, while missing the dance…So, you were mad at the world for this missed opportunity to feel human again!" He added, while seeing her turn her sight to avoid staring at him in the eyes.

"Wow, and you came up with this all by yourself? That is your brilliant psychology 101; Matt…You think you know everything about me, aren't you?" She, angrily, mumbled to him.

"Maybe not…But I think I am right this time." He said to her, before letting go of the grip on her arm. "Wait here. You're right; I never take a five minutes break." He added, with a timid smile, making her raise her eyebrows in surprise.

Matt got rid of his apron, before reaching the juke box and pushing one of its selections, before hearing the first note of this 70' love melody filling the room once again.

I gotta take a little time

A little time to think things over

I better read between the lines In case I need it when I'm colder

In my life there's been heartache and pain

I don't know if I can face it again

Can't stop now, I've traveled so far To change this lonely life

"My mums used to listen to those songs all the time, when I was a little boy. I guess that is why I know these songs by heart. I know that you hate the 70', but for me, It gives me a warm feeling inside, I can't explain it….In that moment…I can remember my mother." He explained to her, while taking a few walking steps to reach her standing position, making Rebekah swallow a nervous lump in her throat.

I wanna know what love is... I want you to show me... I wanna feel what love is... I know you can show me...

"Your mum?" She asked, surprised.

"Yes, I actually have one of those …She…She left Mystic Falls." He simply replied to her, while lowering his sight for a few seconds, before adding. "I know that you wanted more than anything to be at the dance. But, this is the best that I can do…Do you want to dance with me, Rebekah?" He asked a mouth open – speechless Rebekah, before raising his right hand to her.

"Me?" She said to him, in complete disbelief, while putting her right hand on her chest.

"Well, you're the only one who broke an entry tonight." He answered, with a big smirk on his face, while nodding his head.

I wanna know what love is,

let's talk about love I want you to show me,

I wanna feel it too I wanna feel what love is, I want to feel it too

And I know and I know, I know you can show me

Show me love is real, yeah I wanna know what love is...

Rebekah raised her hand before sliding it in Matt's. He pulled her toward him, his left arm and hand firmly placed around her waist, before raising his hand slowly in her back, while slow dancing, cheek to cheek, to this old Foreigner song.

"Ok, the song is not that bad." She confessed, in all nervousness.

"So, we can expect the idea of a 70' dance from you soon, then?" Matt mocked.

"Never" She replied to him, with a sarcastic undertone, while smirking and turning her head to the right to stare into his eyes. "Thank you" She whispered, while smiling timidly to him.

"You're welcome." He replied, while smiling back at her, and slowly bringing her into the comfort of his arms, before feeling her head bend on his shoulder, the softness of her silky long hair caressing his cheek, and the sweet scent of her perfume coming at him like waves of pleasure. He closed his eyes, before tightening his embrace around her.

* * *

"Do you have any idea where Ric could be hiding now?" Bonnie asked the Salvatore brothers, while standing in the middle of the parlor room, before crossing her arms in front of her chest and turning her head from right to left to look at both of them.

"Nope, not even the slightest" Stefan answered her, while shaking his head.

"Aren't you the witchy witch of Oz? You're supposed to tell us where Ric is, not the other way around!" Damon exclaimed to Bonnie, while gesturing with his hands, under the sour expression of his face.

"I've tried Damon." Bonnie yelled back at him.

"Well try harder!" He replied to her, while taking a few steps toward the bar.

"I've made several localisation spells, and each time I'm not able to connect with his essence. I suspect that Esther put some kind of protection on him." She explained to him.

"Greeaaaat…Marvellous….We could all vanish into thin air if "Evil Ric" finds Klaus and kill him!" Damon shouted, while grabbing in his hand a bottle of Bourbon.

"Come on, Damon!" Stefan mumbled between his teeth, while rolling his eyes at his brother. "Bonnie is doing her best!"

"Well, I don't know Stefan, she could certainly do better. She should probably register at the Harry Potter School next session. I think she's missing a thing or two on magic." Damon added to them, while sighing with anger.

A "big bang" noise was heard by all of them, before seeing the entrance door being slammed open, with a big kick of a foot on its wood panel, making them startled in surprise and fear, before seeing Klaus majestically entering the room.

"I think we probably should have a little chat!" Klaus exclaimed, while entering the parlor room, before crossing his arms in front of his chest, while scattering the room with an angry stare.

"And, what have we done now to deserve this courtesy visit, Klaus?" Stefan asked Klaus, while rising on his feet and approaching Klaus's standing position.

"Not much, mate…Like always, you never do much, and that is the problem to begin with." Klaus replied to Stefan, while raising his stare in direction of Bonnie.

"No, no, no…." Damon said, while shaking his head, and pouring himself a glass of bourbon. "How many times have I insisted, Stefan, for you to never invite the low life vagabond of the city in our home for tea time?" He added to his brother, in a sadistic-sarcastic remark, while raising his glass in the air, and smirking at Klaus, before drinking its content in one gulp.

"And how many times did I pray to never been in the presence of idiots, and here I am, once again, right in the middle of them." Klaus responded to Damon, while rolling his eyes, in a tit for tat answer, before smirking back at Damon. "Your good old friend, the history teacher is back in town!" He added to them, in a more serious tone of voice.

"When…Where…" Stefan asked him, while approaching Klaus's standing position.

"I saw him not even an hour ago, he was freely walking the streets of central Mystic Falls while buying some oranges and cantaloupes at the local store…Maybe he has a thing for exotic drinks?" Klaus informed them, in a sarcastic tone of voice, before approaching Bonnie's standing position, bending his head near hers, while adding in angrier tone of voice. "I suggest that you find a way to get rid of this problem, am I clear enough, my dear?"

Bonnie raised her chin and sight to look at him, before bending her head.

"I still need to study several spells. But the power put in the protection spell of your mother made things harder, it's not easy." She explained to Klaus.

"Make it easier!" Klaus ordered her, while adding. "If you are thinking of double crossing me, Bonnie, don't ever forget that you're playing with the lives of your beloved friends, not only mine! Now…Have a little more faith in your witch power." He asked her to do, before continuing. "So, what about that spell now, should you still work on it?" He added to her, while raising one of his eyebrows, to which she nodded her head to him. "Well…That is certainly more like it, my witch girl!" He added to her, before turning his sight on Damon and Stefan. "Now, as for you two, I suggest that you trail your friend and know his whereabouts at all times, if you want to keep living of course?" He added, while smirking at them, before leaving the parlor room, while directing his walking pace toward the entrance door, and slamming the door behind him.

* * *

Caroline picked the fork in her plate, while turning the spaghettis around it, and playing with her glass of Orange juice in her other hand, her sight lost in the emptiness of the room, while remembering the previous events of the evening…

ooOoo

**_"Not even the least. If you were dead, I would have six less dates to endure!" She added, while putting her right hand on the door handle, before being retain with his hand covering hers and his lips touching her right earlobe._ **

**_"And yet, Love, the first thing that you've thought of losing if you would be dying was those dates with me." He murmured, with a seductive tone of voice. Caroline startled with surprise at his saying, before seeing him turn the door handle and let her leave their safety nest._ **

ooOoo

"Caroline?" Liz called her, repeatedly, before putting her right hand on the right one of her daughter. "Caroline, sweetie, are you here with me?" She asked more.

"What? Oh yes! I'm sorry…I just drifted away for a couple of minutes!" Caroline answered her mother, while blushing, rising on her feet from her sitting position at the table, taking the plate in her hands, before directing her walking steps toward the trash can, and the sink.

"Are you alright sweetie? You seemed bothered by something, since you came back from the store." Liz asked her daughter, while reaching her standing position and putting a friendly hand on her left shoulder. Caroline raised her head and closed her eyes for a few seconds, before re-opening them with the biggest smile plastered on her face – There was no need to alert her mother now, but she needed to go see Damon and Stefan in the morning to inform them that Alaric was back in town.

"I'm fine, Mum! I'm just a bit tired!" She responded, before drying her wet hands on a kitchen towel.

"Good then" Liz replied to her, while caressing her cheeks. "Oh, I forgot to tell you, Caroline, you received a delivery today. A small box, I put it on your bed." She informed Caroline.

"Ok, I'll check on it." Caroline replied, before kissing her mum's left cheek, and walking toward her bedroom.

A small square cardboard box was placed on her bed. She picked it up, before turning it in her hands to see a sender stamp, without finding one. She shrugged her shoulders, before opening its cover, and startling while recognizing the blue velvety jewellery box in its inside.

"Seriously?!"She mumbled angrily between her teeth, before ripping the yellowish satin ribbon around it, and taking the card that was attached to it.

When you had thrown it on the floor, I had picked it up, and I kept it for you, Love. You'll need it for our second date. Fondly, Klaus.

"Oh, Really?!"She angrily yelled, while stomping her feet on the floor. "We'll see how you will react the next time I'll throw it in your face!" She exclaimed more, before taking her bag, and storming out of the house. "I'm leaving, Mum….I'll be back in a short while!" She yelled to Liz, before closing the front door of her house.

* * *

"You got to be kidding me?!" Rebekah said, while rolling her eyes to the ceiling, after opening the front door of her family's mansion, while seeing Caroline standing in front of her sight.

"I want to see your brother!" Caroline demanded, with her arms crossed in front of her chest, while raising her chin in the air.

"It's kind of a repetitive thing with you these days, isn't it?" Rebekah asked her, while rolling her eyes, and inviting Caroline inside. "What do I care, anyway…He's not here right now…But, you can go wait for him, in the parlor room." She said to Caroline, while shrugging her shoulders, and taking the stairs.

Caroline entered the living/parlor room; she got rid of her cross-over bag, coat jeans, before pacing back and forth in the room, while looking at her surroundings more attentively. It was certainly not her first visit, but it was the first time that she was alone, and not having the pressure of having "HIM" at her side.

She had to honestly say that the decor was exquisite, and done with good taste, though, with a bit much of a male perspective, she thought while caressing the softness of the Italian leather sofa. She walked in the room, for several minutes, while taking in her hands a couple of books that where placed on various wall shelves, flipping through the pages, sighing suddenly with boredom, rolling her eyes, before turning her sight toward the entry of his art workshop. She joined her hands while biting her lips, before looking around her and walking toward its entrance.

She passed her head under the threshold, while taking a glimpse inside, before taking two steps backward, and going back into the living room.

"No!" She mumbled to herself, while rubbing her hands. "You are just bored…What he does with his free time is not of your concern, Caroline Forbes." She added out loud.

Caroline entered the workshop for the second time, against her own good judgement, while walking in front of several unfinished canvas, sliding her fingers on the dry paint while feeling the texture of it. The majority of the paintings were showing a lot of dark colors: dark green, grey, and a lot of black- Describing perfectly the very dark side of Klaus's soul…But, there was also a certain melancholy and sadness that you could feel while looking at his arts.

She turned her head to the right, before noticing a half open door leading toward another room. She pushed it open, before startling with surprise: Klaus's bedroom.

She shut the door close, while putting a hand on her chest to calm her fast heart beats. What was happening to her? This behaviour was simply the stupidest of all. But she could not forbid herself to re-enter his private quarter. She turned the door handle for the second time, while pushing the door, and entering inside.

It was a typical, masculine bedroom. A gigantic bed was place in the middle of the room, with a silk, dark green, Asian style bedspread. Caroline passed the tip of her fingers on the fabric, while appreciating its softness, before raising her head to look at the different frames placed above the bed head. She sighed with surprise, when she realized that it was actually several handwriting love letters. She should have left. But she was attracted by this aura of darkness and this against her better judgement…She started to read them out loud:

**My sweet lover, I miss you very much.**

**I suppose I should say, in the language of lovers, I think of you oftener than I breathe;**

**but I don't, at least not consciously, though it's conceivable, isn't it,**

**that one may so live in her lover that he becomes a part of the substance of her thoughts.**

**oOo**

**My love, I was very sorry to say goodbye to you yesterday after the pleasant hours we spent together.**

**The sense of being at home comes to me so deeply when I am near you that I am always a little shivery when you leave me,**

**as if the spirit of death shut his wings over me; but the next moment the thought of your love for me brings a rush of life back to my heart.**

 

There were at least ten frames placed above the bed head, all with different parts of love letters. Caroline put a hand on her chest, while closing her eyes to calm herself down. She needed to get out of this room, she suddenly thought, before rushing herself outside, running toward the living room, while suddenly holding her pace and freezing all of her movements, before seeing Klaus in front of her eyes, holding her jeans coat in his hand.

"When I've asked you to stay safe inside of your own home, which part did you not understand, Caroline?" Klaus asked, while staring angrily at her, before throwing her coat jeans on the sofa, and rapidly approaching her standing position, grabbing firmly both of her arms, while bending his head near hers. "It's for your own safety, do you understand me?" He added to her, to which she nodded to him in approval, already relieved that he had not noticed that she was coming back from a visit to his own bedroom. "Good!" He finally said to her, while letting go of his grip on her arms, before asking. "Why are you back here? You missed me already? Not that I mind seeing you again, Love." He, mockingly, add.

Caroline closed her fists in anger, before taking a few walking steps toward her bag placed on the sofa, sliding a hand inside, taking the velvety box from its inside, before opening it, and throwing the bracelet at his chest.

"I don't want your expensive jewellery; so, could you please stop sending this to me…I don't want you to draw romantic drawings of and to me either….I want for you to leave me alone!" She lashed out at his face.

Klaus raised an angry stare at her, before slowly bending his body to pick up the bracelet that had landed on the wooden floor, taking her by surprise a second later, by grabbing forcefully her left wrist, pushing Caroline on the wall behind her back, immobilizing her body with the weight of his, while forcefully sliding the jewellery on her wrist and closing the claps of the bracelet.

"There!" He angrily lashed out at her, while letting go of her wrist and placing both of his hands on the wall, on each side of her head, before locking his stare in hers. "No need to talk about it anymore, it will stay on your wrist, do you hear me?" He asked, as an order.

Caroline was shaking like a leaf in the wind, but there was no way in hell that she would show him how scare she was. She raised her chin in the air, while staring into his eyes.

"I'll get rid of it the minute I'll leave this place." She mumbled to his face, in a confrontational way of pushing his limits.

"Just try me, Caroline." He replied to her, while nodding his head and taking a strand of her hair in his right hand. "My passionate Caroline…" He added, while seeing her blush. "Who was not able to stay away from me, even if she tries to convince herself, aren't I right, Love?"

"Pff…" She mumbled the sound, angrily, between her teeth, while blushing, before turning her head to avoid looking at him in the eyes, feeling a mix of fear and desire hitting her all at once. "You obviously think too much of yourself." She added to him, while rolling her eyes, before seeing him smirk even more.

He lowered both of his hands on her shoulders, before sensually passing their back on the length of her naked arms, creating more shivers all over her body.

"Will you ever say it?" He murmured to her, while staring into her eyes and making Caroline lock her stare back in his.

"Say what?" She whispered back to him.

"My first name…You've never said it…I always wonder what would be the intonation of your voice when you would pronounce it to me the first time." He confessed to her, while sliding his forehead on hers; closing his eyes, putting his hands around her waist, before sliding them slowly on her hips.

Caroline closed her own eyes, while swallowing a small lump of nervousness in her throat; with no more sense of what the reality was anymore…She raised her hands, while slowly grabbing his forearms.

"K…Klaus…" She whispered softly in an almost incoherent murmur, making him smile heavenly, before sweet kissing her forehead, pressing gently the softness of his lips on her skin.

"Thank you" He murmured, before detaching himself of this embrace, taking a few walking steps to reach the sofa, picking up her coat and bag, before handing them to Caroline.

"Drive safe and straight back home!" He ordered her to do, before turning on himself, and taking walking steps to reach his workshop. "Good night, Love" He added to her, before disappearing in front of her eyes, and while leaving a speechless, dumfounded Caroline behind him.


	4. Bonjour Paris!

**Songs inspiration** **:**

Klaus & Caroline: La vie en Rose – Edith Piaf Because we can (CanCan song) – Moulin Rouge soundtracks

Rebekah & Matt: Rihanna / We find love in the hopeless place

* * *

Des yeux qui font baisser les miens **Eyes that make (me) lower mine**

Un rire qui se perd sur sa bouche **A laugh that loses itself on his mouth**

Voilà le portrait, sans retouche, de l'homme auquel j'appartiens **Behold the portrait without retouching of the man to whom I belong**

Quand il me prend dans ses bras **When he takes me in his arms**

Il me parle tout bas **He speaks to me softly**

Je vois la vie en rose **I see life in pink (or - Life is wonderful)**

Il me dit des mots d'amour **He utters words of love to me**

Des mots de tous les jours **Everyday words**

Et ça me fait quelque chose **And it touches me**

Il est entre dans mon coeur, une part de bonheur **A share of happiness has entered my heart**

Dont je connais la cause **Whom I know the cause**

Quand il me prend dans ses bras **When he takes me in his arms**

Il me parle tout bas **He speaks to me softly**

Je vois la vie en rose **I see life in pink (or - Life is wonderful)**

Il me dit des mots d'amour **He utters words of love to me**

Des mots de tous les jours **Everyday words**

Et ça me fait quelque chose **And it touches me**

Il est entre dans mon coeur, une part de bonheur **A share of happiness has entered my heart**

Dont je connais la cause **Whom I know the cause**

C'est toi pour moi, moi pour toi dans la vie **It's you for me, me for you, in this life**

Il me l'a dit l'a juré pour la vie **He told me so, swore it for life**

Et dès que je t'aperçois **And as soon as I see him**

Alors je sens en moi mon coeur qui bat **Well I feel my heart beating inside me**

La vie en Rose, from the one and only: **Edith Piaf**

* * *

Klaus pushed a falling strand of Caroline's blond hair behind her left ear, while caressing her cheek with the tip of his fingers. She startled in her sleep before turning her head away from his caresses while moaning sounds of pleasure. He took the opportunity to raise the blanket on her chest and shoulders, before turning his sight toward the porthole of the plane, near his sitting position.

It was a night without any moon to illuminate its darkness, the black sky made him feel at ease with the most obscure parts of himself. He had always loved to travel when the sky was this dark…It suited for some strange reasons his bad temperament.

"Sir, can I offer you a drink?" A sexy blonde, tall, flight attendant asked him while bending her upper body in top of Caroline's, showing her low and deep neckline to his eyes, before making Klaus smile even more at her failing attempt to seduce him.

"Whisky" He replied, politely to her.

"And for your…Mm…Lady friend who's sleeping?" She asked more, while staring at Caroline with a disdain look and a hint of jealousy in her eyes.

"Not at the present moment." He added, while narrowing his eyes, before waving one finger at her. "Could you bend nearer to me, Helene…It's your name isn't it, sweetheart?" He asked, while calling the young woman by her name tag before staring into her eyes.

"Yes…." She nodded in affirmation, while bending her upper body nearer his, in a suggestive way.

He forcefully grabbed her left forearm, while raising his chin and staring into her eyes, making her startled in fear and moaning sounds of pain under his firm grip.

"Now, you're really starting to get on my last nerve, and when I am like this, I never know what I will do…So…" He started to explain, before adding while compelling her. "I suggest that you go make my drink, bring it back to me, and then leave us alone for the all duration of the flight, do you understand me?"

"Yes" The flight attendant nodded her head in complete approval, before turning on herself, and directing her steps toward the small kitchenette, while closing the curtains behind her.

Klaus turned his head to the right to take one last look at Caroline, while raising his hand to caress her hair, one last time. He hated the way this mortal woman had look with disdain and ignorance at his muse. He would have snapped her head in a second, if they were not in a commercial flight. But, unfortunately, he could not risk making any kind of troubles, Caroline was too special to him, full of life, beautiful, fearless, and at this present moment, she was sleeping like a baby with no worries in her mind. Though, he knew that when she would wake up, she would probably give him a piece of her mind, and be angry as hell at him. He shrugged and smirked, while thinking that it was a chance that he was willing to take to obtain what he wanted, and what he wanted more than anything was to be in Paris with Caroline.

* * *

The gentle hum sound of the engine had helped Caroline to sleep. She blinked her eyes several times, before slowly waking up, stretching her arms above her head, while turning her head to the left, and practically jumping out of her skin while noticing the dark night through the porthole of a plane.

Where was she? She pushed the blanket away from her chest, before frantically opening the buckle off her seat belt, rising on her feet, while passing a nervous hand through her tangled hair. She lowered her sight to look at her clothes. She was dressed with what she could remember wearing the last time that she was conscious: a pair of skinny jeans, a grey t-shirt, high boots, a colourful scarf, and a jeans coat.

She scattered the entire cabin, to what seemed to be at first sight, the First class of an airplane: luxurious leather seats, high tech plasma TV screen, spacious space, but, not a single passenger sitting in the front, in the back, or on the side' seats of her own sitting position. She, slowly, took a few walking steps, while following the illuminated small alley between the seats. She shook her head in complete disbelief, before holding her pace, and finally remembering the previous events in rapid flash images in her mind. She closed her fists in anger, while raising her sight into the one of Klaus who was standing in the alley, in front of her view.

"What did you do to me?" She asked, angrily, while raising her chin in the air and grabbing the top of the seats on each side of her standing position.

"You woke up." He said, while addressing a timid smile to her.

"Answer me, Klaus?" She yelled, while making him loose his grin in a heartbeat.

"I suggest that you calm down, Caroline." He said, calmly, but in a commanding tone of voice, while raising his eyebrows and staring into her eyes. "You should sit and rest. We still have a few hours of travelling in front of us."

"You compelled me!" She busted in anger, before raising her hand and slapping him across his left cheek.

The slap noise echoed loudly in the cabin. Klaus growled before raising an angry stare at Caroline, making her step away from him.

"I think it's time for you to go back to your aisle and put your lovely behind on the seat!" He lashed out at her, as an order, while rubbing his cheek with his hand. Being somebody else than Caroline, the individual would have already been dead for slapping the hybrid this way, with his/her guts ripped out of his/her abdomen…But, he was kind of responsible from this turn of events, and he understood why she was so mad at him.

"Seriously, that is going to be your answer to me?" Caroline asked him.

"You made a spectacle of yourself at the airport, Love. I had to drag you all the way to the boarding gate. And then, you know what happened." He explained, while bending his upper body in close proximity of hers.

"You had no right to compel me. I agreed to go on seven dates with you, _**BUT**_ , I've never agreed to follow you to the end of the world!" Caroline lashed out into his face.

"Your perception of distance needs to be re-evaluate, love. Paris is certainly not the end of the world. But, if you want I could bring you to the end of the world, but then we would probably never come back. Are you willing to be with me, for eternity?" He confronted her, while seeing her lose all the colors in her cheeks.

"Paris…" She whispered in total shock. "I bet you kidnapped me in your own private plane?" She asked, slyly.

Klaus raised an eyebrow before smirking; she was too intelligent for her own good, while trying to find out if this flight was a commercial one or not.

"We had an agreement, Caroline. I was the one choosing the location for each of our seven dates. Therefore, we can't call this "abduction", can we? And yes, the Mikaelson family has a jet. We are not the Original vampire family for nothing. But, Elijah took it for his own personal purpose…I was left with no other choice but to buy all the available seats in the first class. I wanted for you to have your comfort, peace and tranquility for the duration of the flight – I knew it was your first time." He explained, smirking, in a double sense meaning before raising his hands to caress one of her cheeks. She turned her face to the right while forbidding him to touch her.

"You had no right to compel me this way, why did you do it?" She asked, angrier than ever, while pointing an accusatory finger at him.

"Because, I'm one step ahead, Caroline, and I knew that you would never board this stupid plane if I hadn't compel you. You don't even know what is good for you, love. You don't even know that this trip is all that you've been dreaming of since the first time I mentioned it to you, since I've told you that I would bring you to Paris the evening of the ball." He yelled at her, while passing a nervous hand through his hair, before adding more calmly. "You were kicking your arms and feet and screaming, and I did what needed to be done; I'm sorry that I had to compel you, but, I did it for your own good and safety. Now I think it's time for you to sit!" He ordered, before seeing her cross her arms in front of her chest in a confrontational gesture. "I wouldn't confront me if I was you; Caroline, or I could very easily have another kind of meal than the beef bourguignon. The economic class is at its fullest, the passengers seem very tasty at the moment." He menaced.

"You have no soul!" She responded, with tears filling her eyes, while staring into Klaus's.

"You have one for the both of us, Love." He answered, before ordering once more. "Sit!"

Caroline turned on herself, before closing her eyes and raising her right hand on her trembling chest to calm herself down. He was nothing more than a beast, a heartless man, with no soul and no more humanity inside of him, and she had made a huge mistake by putting her life into his hands to save Tyler….And now she was in a plane with him, in direction of Paris.

She grabbed the blanket left on her seat, and turned around one more time, before taking the seat as far away as possible from his, while turning her head toward the porthole to avoid looking at Klaus. She threw the blanket over her shivering shoulders, before closing her eyes.

Klaus closed both of his fists in anger, while biting his bottom lip. She was stubborn, alright, and a fighter, Full of anger, strength and fury inside of her, but, with what he had plan for their second date, she could not stay mad at him very long.

* * *

The repetitive banging noise on the entrance door of the Mikaelson manor was getting more annoying by the second, thought Rebekah, while directing her walking steps, with much anger inside of her, toward the incessant sound.

"I'm coming for God sake!" She yelled, before grabbing the handle and opening the entrance door widely. "What?" She asked the person standing in front of her sight, which was: Matt Donavan.

"Where is she?" He asked, before pushing her out of his way, and entering inside the manor.

"Hey! Watch your manners, Donovan!" She lashed, while closing the entrance door on its arch.

"Caroline? Where is she? Where is your brother?" He angrily asked Rebekah.

"Who got your boxer in a twist, human boy?" Rebekah asked him, while crossing her arms over her chest.

"Caroline! That is whom I'm worrying about. She is not at her home. Her mother told me that she would be with Bonnie to study for the next few days or so. Apparently, a big history test, which, we both know, is not true. I checked at Bonnie's without alarming the hell out of her, Caroline was not there. Then, Elena's, and she was not there either." Matt explained to her, pacing back and forth in front of the Original girl, while passing a quick hand through his hair.

"So? Since when are you the keeper of your bimbo vampire friend, anyway? I certainly don't keep track of her." Rebekah said, while rolling her eyes to the ceiling.

"Friend… Yes, that is the correct word, Rebekah, my "friend", Caroline. And no I don't keep track on her, but your brother apparently does." Matt replied.

"Nick is not even here." She started explaining to him, before holding her peace.

"Yes, exactly, Rebekah, he is not in Mystic Falls, and she seems to have vanished from the thin air as well." He explained, while pointing a finger at her.

"I don't keep track of my brother whereabouts; Matt. But, I think he mentioned something to me about being overseas for the next few days or so." She responded to him, while shrugging her shoulders and taking a few steps toward a long corridor leading to the kitchen, swinging her behind in synchronisation in front of his eyes.

_**God…That Original girl…That girl!**_ Matt thought, while following her steps, and closing his eyes for a few seconds to maintain his focus on the problem in hands.

"Overseas? What do you mean overseas?" He asked Rebekah, before grabbing her right forearm, and turning her body to face him.

"I have no idea what he meant? He could be anywhere in the world for what I know." She answered, while shrugging her shoulders, and freeing her arm from his grip.

"Do you think he is with Caroline?" Matt exclaimed in shock, while making her roll her eyes even more.

"Listen Donovan, even if she is with my brother, which I doubt, because I hope that he has better judgement than bringing her with him…But, if this is true, he is so grossly infatuated by her that I doubt that he would harm Caroline in any way, if this is what you're worrying about." Rebekah said to him, before pushing the door of the kitchen. "You want a beer?" She added to him, before disappearing into the kitchen, leaving him in front of the closed door speechless.

* * *

Caroline grabbed the arms of her leather seat with all the strength that she got in her. She closed her eyes and started to count to ten, but that was not helping. The plane was on his landing path, and the different pressure stages were turning her stomach upside down. It was her first time in a plane, and she was not feeling too much at ease at the present moment.

Klaus raised his head while observing Caroline. She was sitting two front rows opposite of his sitting position. The plane was beginning his landing descent.

Caroline sensed his presence on the seat beside her, but she did not opened her eyes…He could go to hell for what she could care. Then, she felt his long fingers on her left hand, but she moved it out of his reach.

"Caroline, give me your hand!" He ordered her, while seeing her reluctance to obey him. "Please?" He added with a softer voice.

At that moment the plane dropped while being taken into an air pocket. Caroline opened her eyes in fear, before grabbing Klaus's hand forcefully.

"Breathe…Breathe…Slowly…" Klaus whispered to her, while holding her hands in his, gently caressing her wrists with his thumb.

She glared at him for a split second, while thinking that the pressure of his hand on her wrist was not helping at all. Why was she always so turned upside down every time he was touching her?

"It's you first time; Caroline…It's normal to be afraid of the takeoff and landing." He murmured to her, while caressing her forearm, with exquisite touches of his fingers.

"I couldn't tell…I was compelled to sleep while we were taking off." She angrily mumbled between her teeth.

"You're still mad at me for that? How can I acquit myself?" He asked, while staring at her.

"What about opening the porthole – door, and jump off the plane?" Caroline mumbled angrier than ever.

"Well that's the spirit!" Klaus exclaimed to her, while smirking. "My girl is back in her own fearless self!" He added, smirking.

"I'm not your girl!" She replied to him, while grabbing his hand harder and feeling the landing of the plane approaching.

"Well, this could be debated. You surely are my girl when you are in a date with me, my sweet love." He added to her, making Caroline take a glance at him, while showing a pout expression on her face.

"You really think that I am fearless?" She murmured, while taking him by surprise with her sudden question.

"Yes…The proof? You are with me, aren't you?" He whispered, while staring into her eyes. "Hang in there; Caroline…We're landing into unexplored territories!" He added, while bringing her hand to his mouth, sweet kissing it, before feeling the plane land in the capital of the lovers: Paris.

* * *

"Do I want a beer?" Matt asked Rebekah, dumbfounded, while pushing the kitchen door open.

"Catch!" She responded, while throwing a bottle at him.

"Rrrrr…." Matt growled the sound madly, while catching the bottle. "You're not supposed to drink this, Rebekah." He added to her, while showing the bottle to her.

"Gosh…You're such a boredom, Matt, I'm a thousand years old and I can't drink alcohol?" Rebekah mumbled in her teeth, while rolling her eyes, turning the cap of the bottle before gulping the amber liquid. "If you were not so handsome you'll be a total waste." She added with a grin.

Matt raised his stare at her in surprise.

"You find me handsome?" He asked, in surprise.

"What?" She mumbled innocently, while turning her back at him, before biting her bottom lip and occupying her time at some random tasks in the kitchen. She opened the radio, putting the sound at its maximum while hearing Rihanna voice filling the empty space of the room.

"How handsome am I?" He murmured into her right ear, while standing behind her back.

Careful Donovan…You are heading toward big trouble! He couldn't do without thinking this to himself.

Rebekah turned on herself, while facing him and locking her eyes in his, before starting to sing to change subtly the conversation.

"And we're standing side by side, as you shadow crosses mine, what it takes to come alive, it's the way I'm feeling, I just can't deny…But, I've got to let it go…" She sang before pushing him out of her way, and twirling on the sound of the beat of the music. "Woo…I love Rihanna…" She yelled, before approaching him, sliding her hands on his chest and singing again. "We find love in a hopeless place…We find love in a hopeless…Woo…Come dance with me, Donovan!" She asked him, before pushing the kitchen door open while twirling and dancing into the corridor.

"You got to be kidding me." Matt murmured to himself, while shaking his head, closing his eyes, and passing a nervous hand through his hair.

* * *

Caroline entered her luxurious hotel room, closing and leaning her back on the door, before putting a hand on her chest.

"Calm down, Caroline…Calm down…" She repeated to herself. The ride from the airport to the hotel had been the most exhilarating, breathtaking, experience of her entire life. She had been so mad at Klaus that she had completely forgotten that they were landing in Paris….PARIS! The limousine taxi had made a detour toward the Champs Élysées and Place de la Concorde before heading toward their hotel. She had tried the best of her ability to not let appear a smile on her lips, but while looking through the window of her passenger seat at this incredible view, she couldn't do without glowing and smiling so much that Klaus had wink at her while noticing her happy infatuation for the city of lights, Paris…Just pronouncing the word of this capital, while hearing the syllables rolling naturally on her tongue. She had never travelled before, never left Mystic Falls, and now she was in: Paris!

She scattered the bedroom while appreciating the mix of contemporary and last century style: elegant canopy bed, with silk bedspread and decorative cushions, lace curtains surrounding the bed, several leather arm chairs, fresh red roses in a crystal vase, complementary chocolates placed on the pillow of the bed. She took a few walking steps to reach the French doors of the balcony before opening them and standing motionless, while opening her mouth as speechless as she could ever be.

In front of her, The Eiffel Tower was majestically standing in all its glory. She felt tears appear in her eyes; she closed her eyelids one second to calm herself down under this intense emotion. She could not believe that she was standing in front of the Eiffel Towel.

She faced the bedroom and finally noticed the big white box, with a black satin ribbon around it, placed on a marble table. She took a few walking steps toward it, and open its cover, while sliding the satin paper, before gasping in front of a gorgeous, exquisite burgundy, muslin, evening dress, with a boa of feather in the same colour placed beside it.

She then took in her hands another bag that was placed beside the box, before taking from its inside, another box, it was a shoes box to be more precise. She opened its cover, before seeing a matching pair of high heels burgundy pumps. She finally reached for a smaller bag and pulled a matching set of satin bra and panties, making her blush in surprise of seeing the right size on the label.

Then, she directed her walking steps toward the bathroom facilities, standing speechless in front of the gigantic roman bathtub, and the quantity of exquisite and luxurious feminine products on the sink counter. She took in her hand a small white envelope before sliding from the inside a small card:

**Hope all these products will be to your satisfaction,**

**If you ever need addition, please, ask the reception.**

**Take time to relax, Love; Don't forget to take a nap; We'll have a fun night in front of us!**

**If you are hungry, and I'm not talking about food…Ask for: Leonardo.**

**And, there is no need to worry; he's very discrete**

**Fondly, Klaus**

She rolled her eyes to the ceiling, before throwing the card on the counter. Then, she smiled heavenly; while passing the tip of her fingers over all the bottles and products placed in front of her sight. She, then, started to frantically undress herself, while giggling and opening the faucets of the bathtub…She was certainly not a girl to pass the chance to use all this spa products.

* * *

Caroline was standing in front of the lounge bar of their hotel. She passed her nervous hands on the luxurious muslin fabric of her burgundy dress: small silk straps, square cleavage, bustier waist, several layers of petticoats on a skirt with a knee length, and a small black ribbon around her waist that ended as a cute bow in her back. As accessories, the wonderful high hells pump with a small feather as decorative accents, her fun feathers boa, and of course Klaus's diamond bracelet at her wrist.

She had put her hair in a loose bun, with strands encircling her face and a fun feather in the back as a hair clip. A burgundy lipstick and several coats of mascara were putting the finishing touches.

She turned on herself and she suddenly saw Klaus. He was standing under the arch door of the lounge bar, speechless while staring at her with sparks of appreciation in his eyes. _He looks so handsome_ , she had no choice to admit to herself while blushing. He was wearing a black suit, his wavy hair were styled straight. He smiled at her, and she felt hundreds of delightful shivers hitting her entire body all at once. Only this man was able to make her feel so aware of her femininity.

He took a few walking steps to reach her standing position, before stopping in front of her and locking his eyes in Caroline's.

"You look exquisite in this dress." He whispered, while timidly smiling to her.

"Thank you…You have exquisite taste." She managed to answer to him, hypnotized by his gaze.

"Now come." He asked her, while taking her hand in his, before dragging Caroline away from the lounge bar, toward the exit of the hotel. "A reckless, sexy, fun night is waiting for us, Caroline." He added while smirking at her.

"Where are you taking me?" Caroline asked him, anxiously.

"You'll know soon enough, trust me." He replied to her, while passing beside the Parisian doorman who opened the hotel front entrance doors for them. "Madame, Monsieur, bonne soirée!" He wished them, while bending his upper body in a reverence gesture.

Trust him? That would be the last thing that Caroline Forbes was swearing to herself to never do.

* * *

"There! I got you…I won!" Matt exclaimed to Rebekah, while rising on his feet and raising both of his hands and arms in the air like a champion, saluting an invisible crowd, before putting the joysticks on the table.

"Oh! You're so full of yourself, Donovan…You totally cheated at round 2!" Rebekah exclaimed to him, before rising on her feet at his side, while pointing a finger to his chest.

"I certainly did not!" He replied to her, while bending his upper body near hers, seeing Rebekah raising her chin in a confrontation gesture. "I played a fair game, not my fault if Princess Mikaelson can't accept that she's been defeated!"

"What? I beg your pardon, I certainly can, human boy!" She replied to him, while poking his chest with her finger.

"Don't do that, I hate when people do that to me." Matt warned her, while raising one of his fingers at her.

"Oh, yes, and what are you going to do about it?" Rebekah replied to him, mockingly, while pocking his chest some more.

"Ok, that's enough!" Matt exclaimed, while grabbing her by the waist, before raising her on his left shoulder, while hearing Rebekah's loud laughter.

"Put me down, Donovan!" She asked him, while giggling and hitting his back with her closed fists.

"Or you'll do what, Mikaelson?" He asked her, while laughing himself, and throwing her body on the sofa, his upper body leaning over hers.

They laughed for a moment, before smiling and suddenly staring intensively into each other eyes. And suddenly it happened; he felt Rebekha's soft lips on his. He kept his eyes opened in shock, before slowly closing them, and tasting her raspberry flavor on his own lips…Probably from her lipstick…And then he lost it, he lost it completely… He groaned, raised her in his arms to position her on his lap, before rubbing franticly his hands all over her body, while sliding his tongue between her lips and devouring her mouth.

As quickly the kiss happened, as quickly as she was standing in front of Matt, while looking at him with haggard eyes.

"I…" He tied to explain, without being able to continue.

"I think it's time for you to leave." She mumbled nervously, before passing a nervous hand through her long hair, and while avoiding looking at Matt in the eyes.

"Ok." He replied to her, completely dumfounded, while rising on his feet and directing his walking steps toward the exit of the room.

"Matt?" She called him. "If I hear something about my brother and Caroline, I'll let you know." She said to him, before turning her back at him.

"Thank you." He answered her, before storming out of the room, while thinking on his way out, that he just had kissed Rebekah.

* * *

"Oh my God, Klaus … You brought me to the Moulin Rouge, like in the movie we watched!" Caroline exclaimed, joyfully, like a child who stood in front of a candy store.

"Come" He said to her, with his most endearing smile.

Klaus firmly took Caroline's left hand in his, before pushing the revolving doors of the entrance of the Moulin Rouge theatre, leaving her speechless in front of the rich opulence of the decor.

"Monsieur Mikaelson! Cela fait très longtemps, quel plaisir de vous revoir parmi nous au Moulin Rouge!" An elegant, middle age man addressed himself to them in a French Parisian, while bending his upper body in front of Klaus as a salutation gesture, before adding. "Paris vous accueille toujours avec son plus beau sourire. Madame, vous êtes vraiment très belle, et c'est un plaisir!" He added, while taking Caroline's right hand in his before kissing it.

"Robert, c'est un plaisir d'être de retour, mon ami." Klaus responded to the man, in impeccable French, while putting a friendly hand on the man's left shoulder.

Caroline turned her head, in amazement, while looking at Klaus, in a mix of surprise and interrogation in her eyes and on her facial expression, before seeing him lower his head near hers and murmuring near Caroline's left ear.

"Mr. Robert De Larue is an old acquaintance; he welcomed me in Paris a long time ago, and he made you a compliment, he said that you are breathtaking of beauty, tonight." He translated to Caroline, before seeing her blush. He raised his hand to grab her chin, while locking his sight with hers. "But that part, I already knew, Love." He murmured, while slowly caressing the roundness of her cheeks with his left hand, and making her blush even more at his compliment.

"Nous vous avons réservé la meilleure table, monsieur Mikaelson" The French manager man said to Klaus, with a hand gesture signifying to follow his steps.

(Translate into: We reserved you the best table.)

They followed the French man between the floor tables, and all the customers that were sitting in front of the stage, before redirecting them toward an isolated space, where a rounded red and velvet bench seat was placed in front of a round table, with a white silk tablecloth.

"Le serveur devrait arriver sous peu. Madame, je vous souhaite une excellente soirée!" Robert De Larue wished Caroline, while nodding his head in respect to her, before leaving them to their table.

Caroline sat on the velvet bench before turning her head to Klaus in interrogation.

"Someone will come for our orders and he wished you a nice evening." Klaus translate, while smiling and winking at her, before getting rid of his jacket.

"Oh, I see." She responded, while getting rid of her feather boa and feeling the insistent stare of Klaus. "Is there something wrong?" She asked him, while touching nervously her hair.

"No, you're just so beautiful tonight." He whispered, with a smile blessing his lips.

"Please, stop it." She replied to him, while shaking her head in denial and suddenly playing nervously with her napkin.

"Why?" Klaus asked her, while raising his hand to slowly caress her left cheek, creating delicious knots in her already upset stomach.

"Because…I'm just ordinary…" She said to him, while blushing.

"Oh Love, you're everything but ordinary to me, why are you always doubting yourself so much?" Klaus asked her.

_If you could just stop staring at me that way_ , Caroline thought in her head, while feeling a fire reaching her cheeks. _Stop having that effect on me, it's very disturbing_.

She did not have the chance to answer him before a tall brunette from the Moulin Rouge troupe of dancers and singers stepped in front of their table.

"Well, I'll be damn! Klaus Mikaelson, "Mon chéri" where were you all this time?" The very pulpy, triple "D" bra size cup, sexy brunette, in her very thigh costume and low cleavage, asked Klaus, while swigging her behind from left to right.

Klaus raised a mischievous glance at the brunette, while smirking.

"Claudia, ma chérie, How long as it been?" He asked the brunette, before rising on his feet, taking the brunette in his arms and twirling her body in his arms several times.

Ma chérie? Thought Caroline, while feeling a hint of jealousy hitting her by surprise.

"Put me down, Casanova!" She screamed at him, while giggling in her Parisian accent, to which he obeyed her. "What is this low life jerk has done to you, sweetheart?"

"Wow…At last someone who knows you well!" Caroline replied, while rolling her eyes at Klaus.

"She has spunks, I like her already!" Claudia said to Klaus, before handing her right hand to Caroline. "Claudia De La Rue." She presented herself, while shaking Caroline's hand.

"De La Rue?" Caroline replied to her, while pointing her finger in direction of the French man who had welcomed them in this establishment.

"Yes, unfortunately this other low life jerk is my husband!" She confirmed to Caroline, while rolling her eyes to the ceiling, before winking at her.

_Stupid me_! Caroline thought to herself while closing her eyes.

"I'll let you both at your evening, enjoy the show, we have a special tribute to Edith Piaf tonight." She explained to them before adding. "And you don't be a stranger, handsome, ok? The next time you are in Paris, we need to catch up." She said to Klaus, before kissing his cheeks.

"Orevoir ma chérie!" Klaus exclaimed, before slapping her behind.

"Hey! Watch your manners!" She busted at him, with a mocking tone of voice, before walking toward the back stage.

"She's ….very unique!" Caroline said to Klaus, while playing nervously with her napkin.

"So are you…" He whispered, while staring at her.

"I…I can see now that you are not only killing innocent victims in your spare time." She said to him, in a mocking tone of voice.

"Surprising isn't it…Maybe I am not the beast that you thought I was…Did you ever consider that, Caroline?" He asked her, while making her blush. "Now, love…What do you want to eat?"

* * *

Caroline was glowing, smiling appreciatively at this magical and unique moment. In front of her eyes, can can girls, accompanied by Claudia were swinging their colourful costumes and behinds in a very Moulin rouge (reddish) style.

**Because we can, can, can Yes we can, can, can, can Can, can, can, can, can Oh, oh Oh, oh Oh, oh Oh, oh Oh, oh Oh, oh Oh, oh**

**Everybody can, can Oh, oh Oh, oh Oh, oh Oh, oh Oh, oh Oh, oh Oh, Oh Everybody can, can**

On the last note, they performed a split, while raising their right arms and hands in perfect synchronisation as the perfect finale, under enthusiastic applauses.

"You liked it?" Klaus asked Caroline, smiling heavenly while noticing her happiness.

"Oh Klaus, it was so…."Caroline tried to formulate her emotion without being able to put in words her feelings, but while returning his smile.

"I'm glad you liked it." He replied, while taking her left hand in his, before slowly sliding his lips on the tender part of her wrist. "Now, listen very carefully." He murmured into her left ears. "This song is a classical French song of Edith Piaf. I'll make the translation for you."

A tall blonde took the stage, before sitting on a stool, while starting the first lyrics of the song in French:

**Des yeux qui font baisser les miens Un rire qui se perd sur sa bouche Voilà le portrait, sans retouche, de l'homme auquel j'appartiens...**

**Quand il me prend dans ses bras Qu'il me parle tout bas, je vois la vie en rose**

**Il me dit des mots d'amours, Des mots de tous les jours, Et cela me fait quelque chose...**

"Eyes that make (me) lower mine…A laugh that loses itself on his mouth…Behold the portrait without retouching of the man to whom I belong…" He whispered lasciviously with his lips touching her earlobe, while turning a strand of her hair around his fingers, creating a wave of intense emotion in Caroline's entire body. "When he takes me in his arms…He speaks to me softly… I see life in pink…" He continued whispering to her.

She suddenly turned her head, while locking her teary sight in his.

"It's so beautiful." She murmured, while staring at his eyes and mouth.

"Yes, it is…So are you." He whispered to her, while bending his head nearer and suddenly kissing her left cheek, before continuing the translation: "And as soon as I see him…Well, I feel my heart beating inside of me."

* * *

The Moulin Rouge was almost deserted when they decided to rose on their feet and leave their table.

"Come" Klaus ordered Caroline, while closing his fingers on hers, before dragging her out of the dining room. "Did you have a nice night, Caroline? Did you enjoy this second date?" He asked her.

"Yes…But…We're leaving Paris already?" She replied to him, with a sad and disappointed expression plastered on her face.

Klaus turned on himself, before raising the corners of his lips into a smile.

"You accused me in the plane of abducting you against your will, and now you want to stay, Love? That is certainly a very refreshing change of mood." He mocked her, while tilting his head, raising one of his eyebrows and making her blush. "If you would be mine, we could stay as long as it would please you, Caroline…But that is not the case, is it? You made this agreement for your sweet little town boy, Tyler. This said I can only admire your fidelity toward him. Therefore, we need to leave Paris and take a plane to bring you back home." Klaus said, with a hand of honor placed over his chest as a mocking gesture.

He turned on himself before bumping into an elegant business man that was standing in his walking path.

"Oh, my humble apologies…" Klaus addressed himself to the man, while smiling and putting his hand on the man's left forearm.

"いや、むしろ私が謝りましょう" The man said in his native language, while glancing at Klaus with a penetrating stare, before ceremoniously nodding his head and directing his walking steps toward the exit of the room.

(Translate into: No, I'll apologize rather)

Klaus narrowed his sight on his back, while suddenly losing his smile.

"What is it? What did he say to you?" Caroline asked, in a worried tone of voice, while being taking aback by the aura of this strange but sophisticated man.

"He presented his apologies in Japanese." Klaus replied to Caroline.

"And that is a problem for you?" Caroline asked, in surprise.

"How could he have known that I would understand is native language?" Klaus questioned himself, before shaking his head, and directing his and Caroline's walking steps toward the exit.

* * *

Klaus took a glance at Caroline who was sitting by his side. The repetitive hum sound of the plane engine had caused her to fall asleep. Her head was resting on his left upper arm, her cheek on top of his shoulder. She suddenly moved in her sleep while mumbling incoherent sounds, before grabbing his arm with both hands.

A wave of intense feeling took Klaus by surprise. Caroline was always able to shake him with this range of emotions. He gently turned himself to the right, while slowly sliding his right hand and arm around her waist, with his left positioned under her thighs, before raising Caroline in his arms. He placed her on his lap, before closing his arms around her shivering body.

"There, isn't it more comfortable?" He whispered to her, to which she moaned a sound of pleasure in her sleep, before closing her arms tightly around him.

"Oh, Caroline…" He murmured her name in a soft blow, while closing his eyes, his chin in top of her head, before sweet kissing her forehead.

She startled in her sleep, before opening her eyes, raising her head and plunging her gaze into his, while parting her lips in surprise. She passed the tip of her tongue on her bottom lip. He took her chin in his left hand, his mind suddenly attracted by her mouth like a butterfly by a flame, before lowering his lips near hers.

"No" She whispered, while turning her head to the right to avoid this personal touch.

"Yes" He replied softly, while slowly sliding his lips on her left cheek, creating a wave of hot shivers in her spine.

"No, please…" She begged his understanding, while trying to push her body out of his embrace.

"Stay with me, Love." He responded, while sliding his lips from her left cheek, to the soft line of her jaw, before kissing avidly the right side of her neck, in a mix of nibbling and kissing, with this unbearable tingling sensation created with the tip of his tongue.

_Oh God_! Caroline thought while realizing that she was lost…Lost in this euphoric storm of sensations, taking her always one step farther into new places within herself. _Why does he have this euphoric effect on me_? She questioned in the mix of her turmoil. His lips…Oh, his full and wonderful lips…She longed for so long to feel his lips on hers…The way he was sliding them on her skin…What would she feel if she was kissing him? She started to gasp, while feeling his hands rubbing her back in seductive caresses, before raising her dress skirt on her thighs, and positioning her to face him on his lap.

"Give in…" He suggested, breathless, while gasping for air, while sliding down the zipper of red muslin dress, finally caressing the bare skin of Caroline's back with his hands.

"Klaus, please…" She murmured as a prayer.

"Klaus, please what? What do you need or want, Caroline?" He asked, while raising his head to lock his eyes with hers, before taking her chin in his right hand, and once more, lowering his lips on hers.

She trembled like a leaf, from her head to her toes, and then…It simply happened. The softness of his lips touched Caroline's in an almost none perceivable kiss at first. And at that moment she remembered the lyrics of that French song: Eyes that makes me lower mine – A laugh that loses itself on this mouth – Behold the portrait without retouching of the man to whom I belong…

Klaus raised his head, before locking his eyes with hers, in search of a sign of agreement to continue further. It's her who encircled his neck with her shaking arms and hands, while grabbing the base of his curly hair, feeling the softness between her fingers before sliding her trembling lips on his, like a feather falling from the wind.

Klaus groaned while pushing his hands on her lower back to bring her in a closer contact with his chest.

"Mm…" He mumbled the sound of his enjoyment, before whispering the words in top of her lips. "Your lips taste so good, love."

_No, that was my line_ , thought stupidly Caroline, while loving the feeling and the softness of his full lips on hers, convincing herself that a simple kiss didn't meant anything, that at some point in the time of seven dates with Klaus, she would have been obligated to kiss him, but she perfectly knew that this all theoretical logic could not stand while being in his arms at this present time.

Klaus intensified the kiss while slowly sliding his tongue between her trembling lips, before taking possession of this secret heaven. He devoured her mouth while caressing her bare back with his hands, before raising them on her shoulders and sliding the straps of her dress on the length of her arms, and lowering the front of her dress.

"Oh God, you're beautiful!" He exclaimed, while detaching his lips from hers, sliding his eyes from the roundness of her shoulders to the exquisite silky colour of the exposed skin of her neckline, before crashing his mouth once again on hers.

He couldn't get enough of the exquisite taste of her lips now that he had tasted the forbidden fruit of this paradise. He needed to conquer this land, but suddenly, a colder wind fell on him without even announcing itself.

Caroline struggled her way out of Klaus's embrace, before rising on her feet, and taking a few steps backward into the plane alley, while holding the fabric of her dress on her exposed shoulders. What was she doing, while giving herself to this monster? She had made an agreement with him for seven dates; she must have known inside of her that he wouldn't satisfy him to only hold her hand?

"I'm sorry I can't …" She mumbled, incoherently, before turning on herself, and reaching her previous seat, two front rows from his present sitting position, while sliding the straps of her dress back on her shoulders.

"It's ok, I understand." Klaus said to her, while observing very carefully her every move, before repositioning himself on his seat, granting Caroline some personal time to put her clothes back together.

He turned his head toward the porthole, while drowning his sight in the dark night, before very suddenly smirking and thinking that even if Caroline had suddenly interrupted their first kiss, he had definitely scored third base in this second date….And he was really proud of himself.


	5. Bowling night

**Dress casual, love;**

**Capri pants, t-shirt, and with your wonderful smile as an accessory.**

**I'll pick you at your home around 19:00**

**Fondly, Klaus**

"Wait? What? No…No, and no, and did I say no!" Caroline exclaimed, while reading the small card and shaking her head, before picking her cell phone in top of her bedroom dresser. "Can it be possible to have a day off far away from him for once?" She mumbled angrily between her teeth at the same time she was pressing on her cell phone the speed dial number of the Mikaelson Manor Residence.

But the truth being told, since her return from Paris, 26 hours, 33 minutes, 24 seconds earlier, she hadn't stop thinking about the hybrid, not even for a second. She was actually exhausted thinking about him… And the kiss…And his mouth…And his lustrous lips… Because, thinking about a person that you really, really don't want to think about, is quite exhausting.

She closed her eyes, before closing her left fist in anger, while hoping that he would answer his residence phone.

"Whatever it is that you want, annoying person that you are, you are disturbing my well-being in a bath filled with foam!" Rebekah answered, while making Caroline roll her eyes to the ceiling.

"Rebekah, it's Caroline, is your brother home?" She mumbled, angrily, between her teeth.

"Oh, for God sake, get him out of your system, already! Sleep with him or something...Though I still don't understand why he would want to sleep with you…But, that is beside the point!" Rebekah exclaimed to Caroline, while looking at her colored toes in the gigantesque bathtub. "Weren't you together in Paris? What did you do there? You were holding hands?"

Caroline put her hand on her cell phone, while grumbling her frustration by stamping her feet on the floor, before putting the phone back on her ear.

"Can you give him a message?" Caroline asked, while biting her lips to help her keep her calm.

"Give it yourself, why don't you call his cell phone?" Rebekah asked.

"The reason is: because I don't have his cell phone number, Rebekah!" Caroline yelled at the Original.

"Ok, wait a second…" Rebekah replied to her, while getting herself in a sitting position in the bathtub. "You, both, had travelled together to the end of the world, but you don't have my brother's cell phone number?"

"Paris is certainly not the end of the world!" Caroline replied to Rebekah, before biting her lips. Why does she need to repeat the words of Klaus?

"Well, Then it's certainly not my problem that you don't have his cell phone number, isn't it?" Rebekah responded to her, while smirking and lying back in the bathtub.

"Rebekah, please, I need to reach him before tonight and I don't want to search the all city to find him." Caroline begged her.

"Why don't you ask the Salvatore brothers, they should have his number? Or, much better asked your doggy boyfriend, I'm sure he'll be willing to give it to you. Oh wait, you can't! That would mean telling him about the quality time you're passing with my brother. You've been a bad girl, Caroline." Rebekah giggled her response to her.

Caroline closed her eyes, while counting to ten in her head to calm herself down. What a bitch that Rebekah!

"You could also ask you friend Matt, but he was not too sold on the idea of my brother and you together." Rebekah told Caroline, while smirking and passing a sponge on her arms.

"What do you mean Matt was not too sold on the idea?" Caroline asked her, while opening her eyes widely, before hearing the bell ring, and directing her walk toward the front door.

"That he figured out that you are passing quality time with my brother." Rebekah told her.

"I bet if you hadn't opened your big mouth and bragged about it, Matt would still be in the dark about my relationship with your bother!" Caroline yelled at her, before holding her walking pace while noticing Matt who was staring at her through the glass window of the front door.

"Hey! Don't put your men problems on my shoulders!" Rebekah shouted back at her.

"Go to hell, Rebekah!" Caroline replied, while closing her cell phone and turning the handle to open the front door to her friend. "Hi!" She said, while smiling timidly to Matt.

"You have some serious explaining to do, Caroline." Matt said, while entering inside the house, before turning to face her, with his hands placed on each side of his waist.

"What's up, Matt?" She asked, while closing the front door, before biting her bottom lip, and turning on herself to face him.

"What's up? You've disappeared to God knows where for more than a day with Klaus…That what's up, Caroline!" He yelled at her, while gesturing with his hands. "What is wrong with you these days, for God sake?"

"What are you talking about, Matt?" She replied to him, while blushing and turning her head away from his insistent staring. She needed to think of something and quickly. "I did not disappear…I just left to see a family relative, where did you get the idea that I left with Klaus anyway?" She asked him, while gesturing with her hands.

"But, you told…I mean…You were supposed to study with Bonnie and then you couldn't be found?" He explained more to her.

"I left town at the last minute, Matt…I cancelled all my plans…What? You seriously thought that I took a plane to go, let say to Paris with Klaus…Pff….What is wrong with you, Donovan?" Caroline exclaimed, before rolling her eyes, while trying to convince him of her false sincerity.

"I don't know, Caroline." Matt said shamelessly, while nervously passing a hand through his blond hair, before adding. "Rebekah told me that her brother was out of the country, so I figured that it could be a possibility...I don't know what I thought."

"Rebekah… Why were you with Rebekah in the first place?" Caroline asked him while shrugging her shoulders.

"It's complicated, Care." Matt murmured, while lowering his sight away from hers.

"It's complicated…Since when Matt Donovan would put the word "complicated" in his life?" Caroline asked him, while raising one of her eyebrows.

"I wouldn't, Caroline. It's just that since the dance and the fact that she had lost her mother, I kind of understood from where she's coming from." Matt explained, while shrugging his shoulders, to which Caroline rolled her eyes to the ceiling.

"Be careful Matt, she is an Original snake; don't be fooled by her lovely puppy eyes and her act of damsel in distress." Caroline replied to him.

"She would hate hearing this from your mouth." Matt said, while winking an eye and smirking at her say, before turning the handle and opening the entrance door.

"Well, good, she has the tendency to get on my nerves, anyway." She added to him, while shaking her shoulders to get rid of the bad aura around her.

"Don't play games with Klaus, Caroline, especially now that the group is trying to find a way to get rid of him, and even more with Alaric lurking around." Matt warned her.

"Getting rid of Klaus would mean getting rid of all of us, Matt." She responded to him, while crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"I know, for the time being, it does, but, you never know for the future." He replied to her, while walking toward his old truck. "Hey Caroline, I'm happy that you were not in Paris with Klaus." He said, in a mocking tone of voice, while winking an eye at her.

"Like come on, Matt, could you imagine, me and Klaus in Paris, Seriously?" She exclaimed in laughter, while waving goodbye, before closing the door, and leaning her back on the wall, while putting a hand on her chest. "Oh my God, this was close!" She whispered to herself, before closing her eyes.

How could she hide her relationship with Klaus as of now?

* * *

"Well; aren't you looking handsome and dashing tonight, brother?" Rebekah noticed about Klaus, while entering all smile into the living room.

"What's with you, sister, all cheerful? Did you forget to take your "get on the nerve of everybody" pill today? The doctor has told you: one, each day…Don't you forget it." Klaus responded to her, while mocking his sister, before seeing Rebekah pass her tongue at him, and throwing a cushion, to which he avoid laughing.

He closed the buckle of his leather belt on his black trouser, perfect duo of short sleeves, black shirt, with the first buttons opened on his muscular chest. His hair was brushed backward with gel.

"Where are you going all 70'ish, brother of mine?" She asked him while sitting on one of the arms of the leather sofa.

"Not of your damn business, annoying sister of mine!" He responded, smirking.

She rolled her eyes, before losing her happy face a second later.

"Please, don't tell me you're going out _ONCE AGAIN_ with her?" Rebekah exclaimed at him.

"That " **her** " has a name, Rebekah." Klaus replied, while staring madly at his sister.

"Come on, Nick, snap out of this obsession that you have for Caroline." She warned him, while rising on her feet and approaching Klaus's standing position. "She'll break your heart in thousands of pieces, and then she will give the pieces to her doggy boyfriend to finish you off. She is playing you for a fool and you're biting into her stupid game. One day she will turn on you, and leave you all pathetic and alone." She explained to him, while putting her right hand on his forearm.

"I'll never be as pathetic as you, sweetheart…If I think about my sister and her human minion, Matt Donovan." Klaus replied, slyly, while rolling his baby blues to the ceiling.

"Matt Donovan is nothing to me, get a grip Nick. I'm just having a little bit of fun with my human slave. I'm bored these days." She responded to him, while lowering her blushed cheeks, and shrugging her shoulders.

"See, you have your extracurricular activities, Bekah, and I have my grown up pastime!" He smirked, before walking toward the exit of the living room.

"She called you, you know…Your blonde friend." She informed him, before crossing her arms in front of her chest, while raising her chin in the air.

Klaus hold his pace, before turning his head and walking to reach Rebekah's sitting position, while grabbing her arms forcefully.

"Hey! What's your problem?" Rebekah yelled at her brother.

"Do you know what she wanted?" Klaus asked, while letting go of his grip on her arm.

"How should I know? I'm not her friend! She asked to talk to you, but you weren't here, so I've told her to call you directly. But, the stupid bimbo doesn't have your cell phone number." She explained to him, while rubbing her arm. "Damn, Nick! Get a grip on yourself would you?"

"Stay out of this, Rebekah!" He warned her, while bending his head and locking his sight with hers.

"Whatever " **this** " is? Nick, that's the point, I have no idea?" She replied to him.

"And you don't need to know, because it's not of your damn business." He mumbled to her, while walking toward the exit of the room, before grabbing his car keys on a console table and slamming the door behind him.

"Well, go to hell with your precious Caroline, then!" Rebekah yelled at him, while throwing a pillow to the closed door.

* * *

"Let me help you with the grocery bags, mama." Caroline suggested to Liz Forbes, while taking a bag from her hands, before walking toward the kitchen, with her mother walking on her heels.

"You are looking pretty tonight, what's the occasion?" Liz asked her daughter, while pulling groceries from inside the bags, before putting them away in the freezer.

Caroline stood motionless for a few seconds, before regaining her state of mind.

"Nothing special, just a night out at the Mystic Grill with the girls." She answered her.

"Well, I hope you'll have a lovely time. Tyler will be with you?" Liz enquired.

"No, he's kind of busy at home." She responded, vaguely, while shrugging her shoulders, before being interrupted by the doorbell.

"Oh, I'll get it, it must be Charlie. He is one of my colleagues at the police station. He needed to pick something up!" Liz explained to Caroline.

"No, you're busy, mama, let me get it, I'll let him inside." Caroline answered, all smile to her mother, while kissing her left cheek, before walking toward the entrance.

Caroline opened the entrance door, while freezing all her movements, an astonished expression plastered all over her face. She slammed the door at Klaus's face, before hiding herself behind the curtain, with a hand raised in front of her chest.

Klaus stared at the closed door in front of his sight, while shaking his head in disbelief.

"Caroline, Love…You just slammed the door into my face. I'm not in the habit of having doors being slammed on me this way." He yelled through the panel, while putting his hands on each side of the frame. "I'm waiting for you?" He added, in an angrier tone of voice.

How could she have forgotten about him, the date, and his intention of picking her up at her house? Well, for one thing, she had taken the last two hours to dress, put her makeup on, and style her hair…And to tell the honest truth, she had changed outfits at least five times since the last hour. And the final pick was: A pair of red Capri jeans, with a very tight white t-shirt, and a red scarf tied in her hair as a pony tail, white ballerina shoes where the finishing touch of this well put together ensemble.

She closed her eyes in total panic, while trying to find a way to get out of this unfortunate situation, before hearing the footsteps of her mother coming her way.

"Caroline, I'm still here, Love?" Klaus mumbled, angrily, between his teeth, while hitting the door several times with his closed right fist. "Come on...Are you ashamed of me, or what?" He yelled, louder.

"No!" She yelled back at him, while seeing her mother looking at her with wondering eyes.

"Who's behind the entrance door?" She asked Caroline, while putting her hands on each side of her waist.

"No one" Caroline responded, while swallowing a lump in her throat.

"Caroline, I think you should let me in, or, I will break down the door." He warned her. "Did you forget about our little agreement, Love?" He asked her, while lowering his head near the window glass, before seeing the door open in front of his eyes.

"And what agreement is that, Mister Mikaealson?" Liz Forbes asked the Original, while raising her chin in a confrontational gesture.

"Good evening Liz." Klaus greeted her, in surprise, while straightening his standing position and joining his hands together.

"Good evening." Liz replied to him, while keeping her stare in his. "Can we help you with something?"

_**This is not happening…This is not happening...**_ Caroline was repeating in her mind, while rubbing her hands nervously together. She moved from her hiding place to stand beside her mother.

"It's a beautiful summer night." Klaus responded to Liz, while looking at the sky around him. "I'm here for Caroline, Liz." He explained to her, before crossing his hands behind his back.

"And what would be your purpose with my daughter?" Liz demanded, with a raised eyebrow.

"I have the highest respect for your daughter, if only you need to believe in one thing about me, believe in that, Liz" He replied to her, with a serious tone of voice.

"Then, let her live her life in peace, Mister Mikaelson." Liz responded to him, while keeping her stare in his.

"It's ok, mama…Really; there is no reason for you to get this upset." Caroline intervened, while putting a hand over her mother's right forearm.

"So, could you give me your real reason for being here?" Liz questioned Klaus, while ignoring Caroline's plea.

"Certainly, I would like to request the permission to take Caroline on a date?" Klaus asked Liz, while nodding his head.

"The answer is no." She replied, firmly, to him. "If you are here because you want to be repaid for saving her life, then ask me for a favor, not her. I could lie for you at the council, bribe people, whatever you'll need, but leave my daughter alone." She warned Klaus, in a louder tone of voice.

"It was never about that, Liz, and, I would never ask such a thing in return." Klaus responded, while shaking his head.

"Mum, it is ok, I'll be home early, I promise." Caroline offered as bargaining option, while nodding her head.

"It's still no! I don't want that man to have any power over you, Caroline." Liz replied.

Caroline raised her sight into Klaus's. She knew that she would have no other choices but to compel her mother to forget about this exchange, and she hated, in advance, every minute of it. She turned to face Liz, before being stopped by Klaus.

"Caroline, no…Let me." He suggested, before taking a few steps to reach Liz's standing position, and drowning his stare into hers, while compelling Caroline's mother to obey his wishes. "You'll go back to the kitchen, and you'll forget everything about this present conversation. You'll only remember that Caroline went out with her friends."

Liz nodded her head in approval to him, before turning on herself, walking into the corridor toward the kitchen. Klaus turned on himself to go back to the front porch of the house, before directing his walk toward his car.

Caroline closed her eyes and fists in anger, while grabbing her handbag placed on a hook, before closing the front door of her house and reaching Klaus's standing position, near his car.

"Why did you do that?" Caroline shouted, with all the anger she had retained inside of her.

"Because, I figured that you would highly prefer to hate me than hate yourself." He responded, while locking his eyes with hers.

"It was not your call to compel my mother, Klaus, it was mine." She added.

Klaus tilted his head to the right, while smirking at her.

"You're extremely beautiful when you are mad at me." He whispered, while noticing a redness reaching the roundness of her cheeks, before adding. "But you're right it was not my place to do it. I present you my apology, Caroline." He apologized, truthfully.

_**He was presenting is what?**_ Caroline asked herself. Klaus Mikaelson, the hybrid Original was apologising to her – her, Caroline Forbes? She lowered her sight, while biting her bottom lip. Now what? He had just sincerely apologized to her, and unfortunately when he was right…He was right! And she could not even be mad at him anymore.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest, while shrugging her shoulders and rolling her eyes to the night sky, before noticing the white convertible car parked up front of her house.

"Is this yours?" She asked, while regaining her smile in a fraction of a second.

"Yes, Mercedez-Benz 280, Se 3.5 convertible" He proudly informed her, while smiling heavenly at the car.

"I don't know much about old car." Caroline shrugged her shoulders, while caressing the sheet metal of the car.

"I'll teach you." He responded, while opening the passenger door, and showing Caroline to take her sitting place inside. She sat with a big smile plastered on her face, while appreciating the red leather banquette seat, before seeing him close the door behind her, walking to the other side and take his own sitting position in front of the steering wheel.

She stared at him from the corners of her eyes. He was dressed all in black, with a retro look, and she could not hide it any longer to herself, he looked particularly stylish and hot tonight….Tonight, in Paris, in his house…He looked hot all the time!

He turned the key to start the engine, before driving to their destination.

"So…This is one of your new boy toys I supposed?" Caroline asked, while looking at the dashboard.

"Tsk…Tsk…No, no, Love, _**Irène**_ is not a boy toy" He told her, while shaking his head.

"Irène?" Caroline asked him, completely dumfounded.

"My 1972 Mercedez-Benz convertible, Irène…" He replied to her, while smirking proudly, and keeping his stare on the route.

"You named this car Irène?" She asked him, while trying to hold her laughter.

"Don't look at me with those judgemental eyes, Love, instead take a look at her beauty, feel the softness of the leather seats." He suggested, while taking her left hand in his right, before opening her palm and directing her fingers to make her touch the luxurious leather. "Do you feel it? Do you feel the silkiness?" He asked, while creating intense shivers in her spine.

"It's nice" She responded, with flustered cheeks, while pulling her hand away.

"Oh it's more than nice." He responded to her, before adding. "She is the second beauty in my life presently."

Caroline turned her head to look at him in surprise.

"And who's the first?" She asked, while rolling her eyes to the sky.

"You" He answered her, truthfully, while raising his hand and caressing her hair.

Caroline turned her head to the other side, while blushing even more, before rubbing her hands nervously together. Why was he always able to have this exhilarating effect on her?

"So?" She asked, while trying to change the subject of the conversation. "Who's Irène? A past girlfriend, or a girl who wrote one of the love letters in your bedroom?"

Klaus stopped at a red light, before turning his head to stare at her in surprise.

"You've been to my bedroom?" He asked intrigued, while smirking.

_**Oh my God! Caroline Forbes what did you just do?**_ She mumbled silently in her mind, while closing her eyes in desperation.

"You visited my bedroom, Love?" He repeated, while raising one of his eyebrows.

She kept quiet while counting back and forth to ten. _**In all the dumbest things you have ever said in her life, this was by far the dumbest of all, Forbes!**_

"You know…" He added to her, while smirking even more. "If you needed a full tour of the house, you should have asked me, my sweet Caroline. It would have been my pleasure to show my bedroom to you, because I know we are meant to saw it sooner or later." He added to her, while giggling in amusement.

She closed her eyes and fists in anger, before turning her head toward him.

"Could you just shut up for five minutes and enjoy the silence, and not say an additional word?" Caroline busted at him, while stomping her feet on the car's floor.

"See" Klaus responded, while smiling heavenly. "When you are mad at me like you are now, Love, it makes me think that you like me just a little bit." He added, while winking an eye at her.

"Seriously?" She mumbled, angrily, between her teeth, while rolling her eyes.

Klaus laughed at her annoyance, while parking the car, and turning the engine off. He faced Caroline, while sliding his right arm and hand behind her shoulders, on the top of the passenger seat.

Caroline felt his hand stroking the base of her neck with soft caresses of his fingers. She closed her eyes, while enjoying the intense shivers that were hitting her entire body every time he was touching her. She started to moan pleasurable sounds. Her mind was telling her to push him away, but her heart and body was battling other reasons for letting him continue.

"Caroline?" He whispered, with his mouth near her left ear.

"Mm…" She mumbled the sound to him.

"Come Love, our date is waiting for us. We'll talk about my bedroom later; I still want to know what you were doing there?" He told her, before letting go of his grip on her neck, and opening his driver door.

She reopened her eyes in surprise, while putting a hand on her chest, before raising her head to look at her surroundings.

"You brought me here to go bowling?" She asked Klaus, in shock, while getting out of the car, and walking toward him.

"You mind? You like bowling I hope?" He asked her, while tilting his head and smirking at her.

"Seriously, you want to go bowling?" She asked him, while crossing her arms in front of her chest. "I don't know what is your game, but why would you show me Paris, and then brought me to a bowling alley?" She asked him, completely dumfounded.

"Missing Paris already, aren't you?" He smirked, while inviting Caroline with a hand gesture to follow him toward the entrance of the building.

"That's not what I said!" She responded.

"But that's what I've heard." He responded, before opening the entrance door for her. "And, as for me playing a game, Love, I only wanted to show you that I could easily fill up the shoes of a small town boy with a small town life." He added, with a big smile plastered on his face.

"Small town boy don't drive a Mercedez-Benz convertible." She busted into his face, while raising her chin, in a confrontational gesture.

"It's only a small bonus." He responded, winking, before bending his body near hers, and murmuring into Caroline's left ear. "But the small town boy is not the Hybrid Alpha-man either, is he? Another bonus, aren't you a lucky lady tonight, Love?"

She raised an angry stare at him, before stomping her feet on the pavement, and storming inside.

* * *

"You want me to follow you all night?" Matt asked Rebekah, while leaning his left arm in top of the opened window door of his old truck, while driving at the speed of a turtle.

"Oh? Are you talking to me, human boy?" Rebekah asked, while turning her head to take a glance at Matt, before continuing to walk on the sidewalks.

"Rebekah, what are you doing wandering the streets alone this late at night?" Matt asked her.

"I needed air and I needed a walk to evacuate my frustration." She explained to him, before adding. "Why do you care?"

"Well, I don't know why I care, but I do." He replied to her, before adding. "So, get inside."

"Why aren't you with your good friend Caroline?" She asked him, while turning n herself to face the truck, before crossing her arms in front of her chest, and raising one of her eyebrows. "Oh wait! I know why, because she is at another date with my brother!"

Matt shook his head in disbelief, while closing his fists in anger.

"You know what, Rebekah? If you want to continue your lies, be my guest, but, I won't participate into your sick game anymore." Matt replied to her.

"What did she say to you? I bet she said that this was not even true? She is manipulating everybody: First my brother, then you, the Salvatore brothers, and her witch friend Bonnie, and most of all, Princess Elena!" She shouted at him, while walking toward the passenger door of his truck, before opening it, and sitting beside him, with her arms still crossed in front of her chest.

"Well, at least, you are finally sitting in the truck." He responded, while pushing the gas pedal.

"You are bringing me back home?" She asked him.

"Nope" He replied, while turning the radio on.

"You know that you can't bring me into an isolated spot in hope of killing me?" Rebekah said, while mocking him. "Because, being an Original and all…I can't be killed!"

"Are you sure? Damn, what a pity, I was hoping to get rid of your incessant talk once in for all." He responded, while smirking and keeping his eyes on the route.

She smiled, while passing her tongue at him.

"I saw that!" He informed her, while turning his head toward Rebekah.

"You did not call, why?" She asked him.

"Sorry?" Matt said, in surprise.

"Well, after you've kissed me, you did not call." She repeated, while shrugging her shoulders.

Matt stared at her for a few seconds, before explaining:

"You practically kick my ass out of your house."

"Well...I …I…" She stammered the words, while blushing.

"You can't treat people like that, Rebekah, even if you are an Original princess." He responded, while shaking his head, before seeing her turn her sight to the side window.

* * *

"You totally cheated at the last strike that you made!" Caroline said to Klaus, while taking place in the convertible, before crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"I certainly did not do such a thing!" Klaus responded to her, while taking his own place behind the steering wheel, and before starting the engine. "I played a fair game, not my fault if you can't lose, Love." He responded to her, while smirking.

"I certainly can lose! But, mister Alpha man needed to finish the game with a perfect score!" She responded, while making him burst into laughter.

"Well, it's true that my perfect accomplishment with tonight's game could be a bit disturbing for the novice that you are, Caroline. But how can I cheat? This game is the most stupid and easiest game invented since the beginning of humanity. You have a ball that you are throwing in the middle of a bunch of standing rounded sticks; you don't need to be extremely intelligent to figure that one out." He responded to his date, while raising a eyebrow at her.

"Why do you have to always prove yourself?" She asked the hybrid, while retaining her laughter.

"Because it's fun…" He replied, with a smile from ear to ear. "Are you having such a bad time with me in our date?" He suddenly asked, while taking her by surprise.

"No, why are you asking me this question?" Caroline asked, in a surprised state of mind.

"I'm asking because you're always finding excuses in this pretty head of yours, to not enjoy the time in my company." He truthfully said to her, while taking an exit route.

"Well, it's not like "this" is leading anywhere…We made an agreement with each other: Seven dates in exchange of freeing Tyler of your sire bond over him." She replied, before adding. "If I may add, there are only four dates left"

"I know how to count, Love." He replied, smiling. "And may I add that this present date is not ending…Yet!" He informed her.

Caroline turned her sight on the route behind them, while noticing that they had left Mystic Falls to take an exit route toward the lake.

"Where are we going?" She asked him, in a mix of excitement and fear.

"I thought we could take a car ride under this beautiful summer night sky…Do you mind?" He asked, while taking a glimpse at her.

"No, it's fine." She responded, while shrugging her shoulders and smiling back at him, before lowering her head on the luxurious leather seat to feel the wind caressing her hair and cheeks. She closed her eyes while enjoying this feeling of freedom. If she was honest with herself, she had a wonderful time tonight. And if she was even more honest with herself: she loved every date that she had shared with the Original, and she was not ready to leave Klaus yet.

"So, Love, why were you in my bedroom, in the first place?" He asked, while making Caroline opened her eyes in panic.

* * *

"Why did you bring me in here?" Rebekah asked Matt, while walking by his side, along the lakeshore.

"I don't know. I thought that we could take a time off." He replied, while throwing little rocks on top of the water reflection.

"Well…It's nice!" She replied, while smiling at him.

"You know, when you want to be, you can actually be a nice girl." Matt said to her, while noticing the redness on Rebekah's cheeks. "You want to sit?" He suggested, while taking off his coat jeans and putting it on the ground, for her to sit by his side.

"Thanks" She responded, while taking a sitting place by Matt's side.

"It's a full moon." Matt noticed, while raising his head to the night sky. "Did you see it?" Matt asked, while pointing his finger to the sky.

"Yes!" Rebekah responded, with a smile plastered on her lips.

"It's a shooting star, Rebekah. You should make a wish." He said to her, while taking a quick glance at her.

"No… I mean, it's not a good idea." She said, while losing her smile and shaking her head.

"Why not? It's really just a wish." Matt replied to her.

"I don't believe in wishing upon a star, Matt" She tried to explain, while losing her sight into the reflection of the moon in the lake. "I wished once in my human life, after we all have turned as vampire. I wished that we could turn back as humans, and my wish was never granted." She confessed, while passing the back of her right hand over her eyes, to dry the tears.

"I'm so sorry, Rebekah." Matt responded.

"Well, it's obviously in the past now." She answered, while returning a timid smile and rubbing her opened palms on her jeans.

Matt lowered his sight, while suddenly looking at the little rocks he was holding in his hands. He threw them on the ground, before sliding his right hand on Rebekah's left shoulder and slowly grabbing her neck to pull her toward him, before bending his head and putting his lips over hers.

She closed her eyes, while sliding her arms around his neck, and letting herself lie back on the ground, with Matt leaning in top of her. He moaned sounds of pleasure, before slowly sliding his tongue between her lips, invading her mouth to intensify their kiss, while rubbing his hands all over her body. She whispered his name, while sliding her hands under his t-shirt, on his back, feeling his muscles contract under her wandering fingers.

"What are you doing to me, Rebekah?" He murmured, in top of her lips, before raising his head, and drowning his eyes in hers.

"Kiss me!" She ordered, while caressing Matt's chin, to which he lowered his lips back on hers.

* * *

_**Thank you my dear Irène for saving my life!**_ Caroline thought with her eyes closed and while making a silent prayer to the car, before taking a glimpse at Klaus who was turning the key repeatedly to start the engine, but without, unfortunately, any luck. The car was now parked on the side of an isolated route, near the lake, and was not willing to restart. Not that she was angry at this welcoming turn of event. Without this she had no idea what she would have answered to his question of: _**why she was previously in his bedroom?**_

"Do you have a problem with your "Irène", Klaus?" She asked, mocker.

"Don't you start mocking me, Caroline?" He warned, while staring at her from the corner of his eyes, before making a last attempt to make the car start.

"Irène you're not being nice to the Alpha!" Caroline yelled to the car, while retaining her laughter.

"Come on, Baby, you can do this!" Klaus addressed himself to the car, while opening his driver's door, and walking toward the front, before lifting the hood. "What's your problem, sweetheart?" He asked, while bending his head near the motor. "Could you give me a hand, Love, and try to start the car again?" He asked Caroline while raising his head to take a glimpse at her.

"Sure" Caroline answered, while sliding herself on the banquet seat, before turning the key and hearing the only sound of a bobbin noise coming from the motor.

"Damn!" She heard Klaus swear.

"It's not working?" Caroline yelled back at him, before getting out of the car and walking toward his own standing position.

"Nope" He replied.

"Well, did you try everything?" She asked him, while crossing her arms in front of her chest, before bending her head to take a look at the motor.

"No, I still have to look at the oil." He informed her, while pulling a rod from a bottle, before being splashed all over his neck and chest by the sprinkling oil. "Shit!" He exclaimed in fury, before stepping away from the car. "Damn" He swore more.

"Oh my God!" Caroline exclaimed, while putting her right hand over her mouth, "You have oil all over yourself." She added, while trying to retain her hilarity, before turning her sight at the car and adding. "Bad Irène, what did you do to your master?"

"Are you mocking me again, Caroline?" He asked, while twisting the corners of his lips and getting rid of his soiled shirt, before standing chest naked in front of her sight. Then, he passed the fabric of his shirt on his dirty neck, cleaning the black marks left all over his skin.

Caroline stood motionless at the view of Klaus's muscular chest. _**Damn this car!**_ Now, she was stock in the middle of nowhere with the hybrid, while not being able to turn her sight away from his strong arms, his naked chest, his "V" pelvic trail that was starting just at the invisible mark of his hips…She blushed, while turning her sight away and taking a few walking steps toward the lake.

Klaus take a glance at his date, while arching one of his eyebrows. Obviously, the young vampire was more disturbed that she would admit to herself.

She rubbed her hands together, before closing her eyes and counting to ten. She needed to stop these crazy erotic images of him in her mind. And, why was she always so attracted to him in the first place, anyway?

Klaus closed the hood of the car, while rubbing his soiled hands on his shirt before throwing the fabric on the back seat. He took a few walking steps to reach Caroline, before sliding his hands around her waist, while lowering his head in the hollow of her left shoulder, his lips kissing a sensible spot on her skin, just near the blue vein.

Caroline closed her eyes, while enjoying the feeling of his naked chest glued to her back, spreading electric shocks through her shivering skin.

"Have you thought about our kiss since our return from Paris?" He whispered the question, near her right ear, while sliding his hands under her t-shirt, before caressing the velvety skin of her hips.

"Klaus, no…Please don't!" She managed to murmur the words, while contradicting her say by lowering her head on his shoulder to give him more access to her neck.

"Liar…You don't want me to stop, Caroline." He smirked, while softly biting her earlobe, sliding both of his hands form her hips to the roundness of her breasts, before turning her around in his arms to stare into her eyes. "Do you want me to kiss you again?" He asked, in a low murmur, while caressing her hair.

"No, yes…I don't know…" She replied, incoherently, with redness showing on her cheeks.

"Do you want to touch me?" He asked more.

"I don't know…" She replied once again, while closing her eyes, her mind in confusion.

She could not think for herself at the present moment, when all that she wanted was the exact opposite than what she was saying to him. And then, while debating with her eyes closed, she felt the softness of his lips nibbling on hers, in soft touches, with her own lips trembling underneath his.

"I don't believe you, Love." His lips whispered in top of hers, before deepening his kiss, while sliding his hands under her t-shirt, around her waist, before bringing her into a nearer proximity of his body.

She raised herself on her tip toes, while sliding her arms around his neck, with her hands buried into his golden locks, before slowly returning his kiss, while partially opening her lips, as an invitation to take her further into his passion.

He lowered his hands on her behind, before lifting her up on his hips. Caroline crossed her legs around his waist, before being carried away toward the car. He deepened his kiss by sliding his invading tongue in the sweet aromatic moisture of her mouth, while devouring her lips, before tracing a line of kisses along her jaw, down on her neck, and deep into her neckline. He opened the passenger door, before laying her on the back seat of his car. He heard the sweet sounds of his name being murmured on her lips, while feeling her hands caressing his hair.

He laid himself in top of her, while keeping his lips on her neck, before hearing her loud moan sounds of ecstasy.

"Caress me, Caroline…" He whispered softly, as a request, while grabbing her hands and sliding them on his bare chest, creating a discharge of electricity on her fingers, spreading a second later in her entire body.

She was lost in him….His touch, his smell, his kiss, with no chance of coming back to reality any time soon…Lost in this land of pure delightful sensations. She raised her hands on his chest, sliding her fingers very so slowly on his skin, his abs, while seeing him close his eyes under the pleasure of her touch.

He grunted pleasurable sounds, while appreciating the sensual power she had over him. She scratched the skin of his back with her nails, feeling all his tensed muscles respond under her fingers, her mouth finally touching, testing, and appreciating his scent, the salty taste of his skin under her lips.

He suddenly pushed her arms on top of her head, while sliding his hands on their lengths, detaching her headscarf from her ponytail, before binding her wrists together.

"What are you doing?" She asked him, in complete shock.

"Showing you what the world has to offer." He whispered back to her, with a smirk twisting the corners of his manly lips, before lowering his head and crashing his mouth on Caroline's.

* * *

Matt rolled his body on the ground, with Rebekah lying now on top of his own, his hands sliding on her back, underneath her t-shirt, while caressing the silkiness of her skin. His lips devoured her mouth, in deep, languorous and sweet kisses.

She rolled his t-shirt upward on his chest, while sliding her hands in circular movements, and making him growl sounds of contentment under her devouring lips. She straightened her position on him, while sitting on his hips, with her legs apart.

She lifted her t-shirt above her head, before throwing the fabric on the ground, while sitting in front of his sigh, dressed with her lace bra and her parted pulpous lips. She lowered her head, while lifting his t-shirt on his tone belly, before slowly sliding her mouth on his skin. Matt closed his eyes, while grabbing her hair and pushing Rebekah's head nearer to his skin, before suddenly straightening his body in a sitting position, and gently pushing her beside him.

"What…What's going on?" She asked him, in shock, while nervously passing a hand through her tangled hair.

"I can't do this." He responded to the Original, while shaking his head, before grabbing her t-shirt on the ground and handing it to her.

"What? What do you mean you can't do this, why?" Rebekah asked him, dumbfounded, while taking her t-shit from his hands, before dressing herself.

Matt rose on his feet, before grabbing his coat jeans on the ground and finally lowering his sight on her.

"I'll drive you back home, Rebekah." He responded, without any other explanation.

"What? You'll drive me back home?" She exclaimed madly to him, while gesturing with her hands. "If you find me so disgusting, why don't you say so, Matt Donovan?" She busted into his face, before starting to walk toward the truck, while trying to hold her anger and tears.

"Why would you say something as stupid as that, Rebekah? You think that I am rolling on the ground with each girl that I meet? You think that I am not attracted to you? You're wrong…I am attracted to you!" Matt yelled back at her, while walking on her heels.

Rebekah turned on herself, while pointing a finger at his direction.

"You are calling this being attracted to a girl! You've just rejected me…You're pathetic!" She shouted more at him.

"No, Rebekah, I call this: having enough respect for a girl to not take her on the mud ground near a lake!" He yelled some more, while trying to explain his point of view.

"Oh" She mumbled the word sound, speechless.

"Yes: "Oh"!" He repeated, while nervously passing a hand through his hair, before adding. "I can't handle myself around you, Rebekha…You bring parts of me that I did not knew they were even existing before. And, we are technically enemies, plus I can't stand your brother…So, it's a bit much to handle at the moment."

Rebekah shrugged her shoulders, while sliding a strand of her hair behind her left ear.

"You're right. This can't happen again." She agreed, while nodding her head.

Matt stared at her for a short moment, before turning his head to the right and suddenly narrowing his sight.

"What?" Rebekah asked him, while turning on herself, and looking toward the same direction he was looking.

"There's a parked car on the side of the route. I wonder if there could be people in some kind of trouble." He responded.

"Maybe he/she/they don't want to be saved from their car problems? Did you ever think of that?" Rebekah said to Matt, while following him toward the parked car.

"Well, the only way to know that is to ask them." Matt responded to her.

Rebekha froze at a couple of feet from the car, before opening her mouth in shock, and grabbing Matt's forearm to retain him.

"You can see that nobody is around, so can we go now, Matt." She begged him, while recognizing the car in front of her eyes.

"Let just take a look before leaving. Maybe someone fall asleep on the back seat while waiting for help?" Matt suggested, before taking a few more steps, before holding himself immobile.

"I'm sorry Matt. I've tried to warn you." Rebekah mumbled, while crossing her arms in front of her chest and lowering her sight.

In front of Matt: Klaus was laying chest naked on Caroline, her wrists attached with a scarf. They were looking at him with the same mouth opened – speechless expression.

"What the hell, Bekah?" Klaus shouted to his sister, while loosening the wrists of Caroline, before grabbing his soiled shirt and dressing himself.

"What? So this is my fault now?" Rebekah shouted back at her brother, while pointing a finger toward her own chest.

"I can't believe you lied to me!" Matt shouted to Caroline.

"Matt! I can explain this…This is not what you think it is, or what it looks like!" She tried to explain, while opening the passenger door, and getting out of the car.

"It's exactly what you think it is, Matt boy!" Klaus responded, while glimpsing madly at Caroline, before getting out of the car himself.

"No it's not!" Caroline disagreed, while putting her scarf back in her hair.

"Look at her, she don't even appreciate you!" Rebekah exclaimed at Klaus, while pointing at Caroline.

"I don't want to hear it." Matt said to Caroline, while shaking his head in denial.

"Listen to me; Matt…This is not serious….It is just a way for me to…" Caroline started to explain to him.

"Of course it is not! You are just playing with my brother." Rebekah lashed out at Caroline.

"Then what is it, Caroline? Are you selling your body to him, in exchange of favours?" Matt asked, while making her blush and lowering her sight.

"ENOUGH!" Klaus yelled at all of them. "And you!" He addressed himself to Matt. "Don't – ever - talk – to – Caroline – again – in - that –tone – of - voice, mate…Or you could breathing your last breath tonight." He warned him.

Matt raised his chin in the air, in a confrontational gesture, before feeling the hand of Rebekah on his right forearm pulling him away from Klaus.

"Bring me back home, Matt, Please!" She begged him.

Klaus turned his head toward Caroline, who was losing her sight in the lake, with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Bring Caroline home with you, and it is not a request, it's an order." Klaus ordered Matt, while narrowing his eyes on him.

"Bring her home yourself now that you are her boyfriend." Matt busted in his face.

"The car broke down, Matt." Caroline tried to make him understand.

"Damn!" Matt shouted, while closing his fists in anger, before turning on himself and walking toward the route, with Rebekah on his footsteps.

"Go with them." Klaus ordered Caroline, while staring into her eyes.

Caroline kept her sight in his for a few seconds, before lowering her head, and starting to follow their walking steps.

Klaus paced back and forth in front of the car, while nervously passing a hand through his hair, before hitting the side of his car several time with his feet to let go of his anger. He put his hands on the hood, while lowering his head for a few moments to calm him down.

He suddenly raised his head up, while smirking. Two thinks he was suddenly realizing: first: he had strike the second base with Caroline, second: they needed to have the fourth date away from Mystic Falls!

* * *

Damon Salvatore pushed the entrance door of the Mystic Falls Grill, while exiting the noisy crowd, with a bottle of alcohol in his left hand. He had thought that a couple of glasses of Bourbon would have eased his troubled mind, but in the contrary, it had only put his spirit in a sadder mood.

He took a few unbalanced walking steps toward a dark alley. Maybe a quick bite into a human neck would put a smile back on his face? But no, not even, nothing would at the present moment give him any kind of satisfaction or joy; his deep thoughts were completely centered on his friend, Alaric.

Alaric Salztman had turned his back on their friendship without even his own acknowledgement of it. He took a large gulp of his bottle, while being stopped on his walking pace, before lowering the bottle on the asphalt.

He then rushed at the side of the lying man, which was carefully placed near a trash can in the dark alley. He kneeled beside the disintegrated ashes body of what used to be: his friend Alaric, lying now dead, with a big hole in his heart. Damon closed his eyes, while feeling a range of intense emotions going through the deepness of his soul.

Something was missing in this picture, the only way to kill the new Original, Alaric, was with the ultimate weapon created by Esther, but Alaric had it in his possession since the beginning. Who could have done it?


	6. In the showdown of a lie

Caroline pushed the entrance door of her house, with Matt on her heels. She intentionally slammed the door on his face, which made him growl with frustration, before turning the door handle to enter inside.

He had drove Rebekah at the front door of the Mikaelson's Manor, after an excruciating ride, with the most awkward silence filling the truck, that he had ever experienced in his entire life. He had kept his eyes on the route, and the girls had turned their sights to their respective windows, with their arms crossed over their chests and pouting expressions on their faces.

"Caroline, you owe me the biggest explanation!" He yelled at her, while closing the door behind him.

"I owe you nothing, Matt…And lower you voice, my mother must be sleeping upstairs." She murmured, while putting a finger over her lips.

"I'll lower my voice, Caroline…But, you'll have to tell me what the hell you were doing in Klaus's arms when I found you in his car, in the middle of nowhere?" He mumbled angrily between his teeth.

Caroline signed him to follow her into the kitchen, before closing the door behind them.

"It's complicated." She answered, while lowering her head and rubbing her hands together.

"That is your explanation to me? This is not complicated anymore; Caroline…It went directly to suicidal, and the biggest mistake you've ever made!" He lashed out at her. "What is going on with you?" He asked her more, while passing a nervous hand through his blonde hair, before pacing back and forth in the kitchen. "Are you attracted to him? Or worst: Did you fall in love with him?" He questioned, in shock.

"No!" She exclaimed, while blushing. Well, for the "love" part, it was a categorical no in her mind, but as for the attraction part, the question was still in need to be defined and questioned in her head. "I love Tyler! That is why I do this, for him, Matt!" She tried to explain without further explanation.

"I'm sorry but I don't follow your logic, Caroline. You're sleeping with Klaus to help Tyler? In which twisted way this is supposed to work?" He questioned, in shock.

Caroline lowered her flushed cheeks…How could she managed to explain something that she was forbidden to explain in the first place? The ring tone of her cell phone saved her from formulating a lame excuse. She reached for it in her crossover bag, before sliding it near her ear.

"Hello! I mean…Caroline speaking…" She responded nervously, in front of Matt.

"Matt brought you safely back to home, I hope?" Klaus asked, in an ordering tone of voice, while making Caroline close her fists in anger. You just needed to talk about the hybrid and here he was!

"I don't have time for you, right now." She mumbled, angrily, between her teeth.

"Caroline … Don't hang up on …" She just had the time to hear him say, before closing the line on him.

"It was him, wasn't it?" Matt asked her, while gesturing with his arms.

Caroline lowered her sight to avoid looking at Matt in the eyes.

"What is going on with you and the hybrid, for God sake, Caroline?" Matt asked, while stroking his eyelids.

"I could ask you the same question, Matt?" She started, before adding. "What is going on with you and Rebekah?"

"Well, even if something was going on, between me and her, and it's not the case. At least, Rebekah is not sucking the blood out of Elena's veins, for the only purpose of creating an army of hybrids, Caroline. Tyler is not under her sire bond and she is not controlling Stefan as a ripper!" Matt busted into her face.

Caroline swallowed a lump in her throat. She was too aware of his good reasoning, and she was actually afraid of that.

"I know Matt, but I can't explain to you why I am doing this…Please, you have to give me the benefit of the doubt, and trust me. I'm doing this to free Tyler of Klaus." Caroline try to explain to him, while putting a hand on Matt's left forearm.

"You're doing this for Tyler, by selling your body to Klaus?" He asked, while looking at her with astonishment and disdain showing in his eyes. "What do you think Elena and Bonnie will think of you, Caroline, while seeing you with Klaus?"

"I'm sorry, what? Are you kidding me…Elena, who's not even able to admit her feelings for Damon, who by the way, if you remember, almost killed Jeremy!" Caroline busted into her friend's face.

"What? You're defending Klaus's actions now, by pointing others?" He exclaimed in shock.

"No, no…" She responded, while closing her eyes, and shaking her head. What was she doing? He was right, she was defending the Original. "I'm just saying that Elena made her own choices many times in the past, even if it was not approved by others."

"This will not be approved by the team, Caroline." Matt replied, with certainty.

"Are you threatening me, Matt?" Caroline asked him, in shock. "Because, it surely sounds like you are threatening to tell my closest friends?"

Matt shook his head, while putting his hands on each side of his waist.

"I have to talk to Damon and Stefan about this." He mumbled to himself, while passing a hand through his hair.

"What? That doesn't concern them, Matt! It's my life and my choices, not theirs! They are not keepers of my every move!" She lashed out at him.

"You don't even know what you're doing, Caroline, look at you!" He replied, while pointing an accusatory finger toward her. "You're defending Klaus; you're passing time with him, without even being a decoy for our plan." He explained to her.

"Oh…Oh right…" Caroline exclaimed, while putting her hands on each side of her waist, before rolling her eyes to the ceiling. "How silly of me, I'm only good for when I am needed as a decoy in the Salvatore's plan…Any other ideas or needs that "I" could have, are to be ignored by everybody and most of all by me!"

"You have needs in relation to Klaus?" Matt asked, while opening his eyes widely.

"Oh!" Caroline growled the sound, while hitting her feet on the wooden floor. "You see things the way you want to see them, Matt!" She added, while hearing the ring tone of her phone once again. "What?" She answered once more.

"You hung up on me!" Klaus busted in anger.

"Well, I'm about to do it again." She replied to him, while closing the line on him, for a second time.

* * *

"Damn you woman!" He mumbled, angrily, before hitting with his feet, the up front tire of his Mercedes-Benz. He, then, paced back and forth in front of the car, like a wild animal in a cage.

The mechanic from the emergency garage approached Klaus, while handing him a paper form to sign.

"Well, it's going to cost you a bundle. The carburetor is completely fried, and considering, the year of production of the car." The mechanic tried to explain, gently, to his client. "And plus, the rescue towing mission in the middle of the night…I can't lower the price of much."

"Money is not a problem…Fix the car!" Klaus muttered, as an order, while signing the paper and gesturing that the man could leave with the antique car.

"I can give you a ride to the city if you wish?" The mechanic asked Klaus, before adding. "It's certainly a long walk from the lake to there."

"Let's just say that I can run fast." Klaus replied, smirking.

"As you wish, then…" The man replied to him. "We'll call you when this beauty will be put back on her feet." He added, before walking to his towing truck and leaving.

Klaus passed a quick hand in his tangled, curly hair, before starting to walk on the main route, while staring at his cell phone and swearing along the route.

* * *

"My mind is made up, Caroline; because obviously, you don't know what you are doing…I need to talk to the others." Matt said to her, while opening the kitchen door and walking toward the entrance of the house. "I don't even know if you've been compelled by him or not? I need to protect you against your very bad judgement" He added, while putting his hand on the door handle and turning one last time to stare at his friend.

"What? No, I was not compelled by him! He would not do that to me!" Caroline mumbled, angrily, between her teeth, before crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Maybe you've been compelled to be the new toy boy of Rebekah?"

"No, Caroline, I still have my free will, I'm not so sure about you though." He replied to her, while turning the handle to open the door.

Caroline closed her eyes, she would have no other choice but to do what she was about to do. She pushed, abruptly, with her left hand, the door closed in front of Matt's eyes.

"What? What are you doing, Caroline?" Matt asked, with a shocked expression. "Let me out!"

She turned his body around, before pushing him with her vampire speed on the opposite wall of the hallway, while putting her upper right forearm on his throat.

"Caroline?" Matt chocked, with wide eyes.

"You'll forget everything about this night. You'll remember only that we run into each other at the Mystic Grill and that you offered to give me a ride to bring me home." Caroline murmured as an order, while compelling him.

Matt closed his eyes, before blinking them several times, while seeing Caroline standing in front of him, with a big smile on her face.

"Thank you for the ride, Matt." She said, while turning the door handle and opening the front door. "Goodnight." She added to him.

Matt shook his head, disoriented, before stepping outside her house, turning on himself and saying:

"Goodnight Caroline!" He replied, before walking toward his truck.

Caroline closed the entrance door, while letting a sigh of relief out of her mouth. She let her body fall on the wooded floor, her back now leaning on the wall, before bursting into crying.

* * *

She got back to reality at the sound of the ring tone, while wiping away her tears from her cheeks, before answering. God! That man was persistent when he wanted to be.

"What?" She yelled into her phone.

"You're crying?" Klaus noticed, while walking along the country road to head back toward the city. "What happened, Caroline? Talk to me." He asked more.

"Like you care about this?" Caroline replied.

"I care about you, Love. Did Donovan hurt you? I swear I will…" He lashed out in anger, into his cell phone.

"What? No! It's the other way around, Klaus." She responded to him, while sniffling, and rubbing her nose. "You know what is puzzling me? It's that you never seem to notice that it is "YOU" who put everybody in misery!"

"You did no seem to be in misery, while being in my arms in the car, Love?" He mocked, while grinning.

Caroline rolled her eyes to the ceiling, while wincing.

"I faked my feelings for you; it is part of the game." She replied, shrugging, before hearing Klaus burst into loud laughter. Something about the sound of his laughter was extremely enjoyable to her.

"Ah, Love…We, you and I, both know that what happened in that car was not faked." Klaus replied, smirking.

"I do what I have to do to obtain what I want from you, and you do the same with me." Caroline replied to him, while shrugging some more. "Don't put feelings on this."

"Nothing about you was planned in my head, Caroline. But, if it's easier for you to accept it this way?" He replied, in a sadder tone of voice.

Caroline felt ashamed of herself. He had been a true gentleman: courteous, kind, in each of the dates that she had been in his company. And, if she was honest with herself, she would admit that she wanted to kiss Klaus as much as he wanted to kiss her, since their last date in Paris.

"How's Irène?" She asked him, to make diversion, while putting a smile back on Klaus's face.

"She'll live!" He replied. "And, she'll be happy to know that you care about her, way more than me." He added with a smile, while making her blush.

"Where are you?" She asked.

"I'm heading back toward Mystic Falls." He replied, while looking at the moon.

"You're walking?" She asked, in total shock.

"Is this your way of not caring about me again, Love? Faked feelings?" He asked her, scoffer. "Are you challenging me, to prove to you the contrary again?"

"No, it's me who's bored to death, and who's trying to pass the time in hope that you will hang up soon." She replied, while biting her bottom lip to not burst into laughter.

"What happened with Donovan?" He asked again.

"Nothing happened that should concern you." She replied to him, while raising her chin in the air.

"Translation: It is all about "me" " He mocked, while hearing her sigh in annoyance.

"I had to compel Matt." She confessed to the Original.

"I figured that much." Klaus responded.

"How could you have known?" She asked him.

"Well, you don't have to be Einstein, Love. He would blow this out of proportion to the Salvatore brothers and the little "Heavenly" team, in the good intention of keeping you away from the hands of the bad hybrid. Am I even near the truth?" He asked, while arching one of his eyebrows.

"Not too far…" She murmured.

"We both know that you don't need any protection when you with me or in my arms, Caroline." He whispered, seductively, while making her blush.

"And you seem to stay stuck on the idea that I like you, when in fact, I have the complete reverse effect on me." She replied, while wincing.

"And for the third time you're challenging me to show you otherwise." He laughed, before adding more seriously. "I swear that I had no idea that Rebekah was at the lake with Matt, Caroline."

"I know, and I believe you." Caroline replied, while nodding her head.

"Now, I suggest that you save the number." He ordered the young woman to do.

"I'm sorry?" She asked, dumfounded.

"Put my number in your contacts." He suggested, once more.

Yes boss! She thought in her mind, while rolling her eyes. It's not like she was going to confess to him that she had already saved his number the first call he had made to her.

"Are we done for the night?" She asked.

"For a girl who's not interested, you certainly stayed on the phone for a good fifteen minutes, while chatting with me." He noticed, with a small laugh.

"I…What …No…Oh, go to hell!" She stammered the words, while hanging up on him for the third time.

Klaus busted into loud laughter, while closing his cell phone, before sliding it in the back pocket of his pants.

* * *

It was near midnight when Klaus Mikaelson entered the parlour room of his Manor, while rubbing the back of his neck to release the tension, before raising his sight in Rebekah's who was now standing in front of him, in the entrance of the room.

"Nick." She said to him, while rubbing her hands together.

"Bekah, not now, please…You got on my nerves enough as it is." He replied, while directing his walking steps toward his art shop.

"You don't understand, look who's here." She got his attention, while making him turn on himself.

"Elijah." He exclaimed, with astonishment.

"Good evening, Niklaus." Elijah replied, while rising on his feet from his sitting position in an armchair, before pulling the arm length of his tailored jacket.

"You're back." Klaus said, while narrowing his sight on his eldest brother.

"I'm back." Elijah simply replied, while nodding.

"What bring you back here, brother?" Klaus asked, before approaching the bar and pouring himself a glass of Whisky. "You want one?" He inquired, while showing Elijah an empty glass, to which his sibling shook his head in negation. "Rebekah, leave us, would you?" Klaus ordered her.

"What? No!" She exclaimed, vehemently, to him, while crossing her arms in front of her chest as rebellion. "Elijah is back and we can be a family again…We just need Kol to come back, as well, and we'll be united stronger than ever." She exclaimed.

"My sister Bekah is the eternal optimist!" Klaus mocked, before gulping his entire glass. "So, my dear Elijah, what is the purpose of your visit this time? Or is it that you are feeling nostalgic, and in need to see your precious Elena? You always had a soft spot for the doppelganger. I mean the list is adding up now: Tatia, Katherine, and now Elena…Though, you're not in luck this time, the Salvatore brothers are in it for the win, and are a strong competition."

Elijah sighed with annoyance, before turning his sight to the left, while putting Klaus speech in the back of his mind.

"Alaric Saltzman is dead. He had been found in a dark alley near the Mystic Falls grill." Elijah announced, while sliding his hands into his front pants' pockets.

"What? How is this even possible?" Rebekah asked, in a mix of complete shock and relief.

"Damon? Stefan?" Klaus asked Elijah. "Those morons were finally able to do something right for once? I can hardly believe it. Which human did it? Jeremy Gilbert?" He asked, while smirking, and pouring another glass.

"Unlikely, it's actually Damon Salvatore who found the corpse in the alley." Elijah explained, while crossing his arms over his chest, before locking his sight in Klaus's.

"What? How is this possible? There was only one way of killing an original, and it was with the ultimate dagger that mother created, and Alaric had it in his possession?" Rebekah said, in surprise.

"Rebekah, leave us, would you?" Klaus ordered his sister, for the second time.

"Nick stop treating me like a little girl…I hate it!" She busted in anger.

"Rebekah, we'll see you in the morning, my dear…Go to sleep." Elijah ordered, firmly, but with a calmer tone of voice, while nodding in direction of the exit door.

Rebekah closed her fists in anger. She had not chance to win against her united brothers.

"Fine…I will!" She mumbled in her teeth, before approaching Elijah and kissing him on the left cheek. "Nice to see you back, Elijah." She said to him, before leaving the room.

"Like wise, Rebekah." Elijah replied, before turning back his sight into the one of Klaus.

"Have you done it, Elijah?" Klaus finally asked, while sitting on the left arm of the leather sofa.

"I don't have a suicidal mission in my bones, Niklaus." Elijah responded, while shrugging his shoulders. "Killing Alaric Saltzman, with the help of mother's dagger, would have killed me instantly. I was against mother's methods to get rid of us all. Therefore; I would not vanish so easily while bending myself at her wishes."

Klaus rose on his feet, before taking a few walking steps to reach Elijah's standing position, while staring into his eyes.

"Who cares, Elijah, the man is dead, therefore "we", or should I say, "I" am not a target anymore." Klaus replied to his brother, with a smile blessing the corners of his lips.

"On the contrary, Niklaus…Alaric is dead but the dagger is still in the hands of the murderer. You're more a target now than ever, "we" all are." Elijah replied, while making Klaus wince.

"Do you know something?" Klaus asked, with an arched eyebrow.

"Let just say that I hope that this dagger is not in the wrong hands." Elijah replied to him, while turning his head and sighing.

"And those hands you're talking about, they belong to whom exactly, Elijah?" Klaus asked.

Elijah lowered his head, before turning his back to his brother and taking a few walking steps to stand in front of the bay window, while sliding his hands back in his pants pockets, while staring at the night.

"If it's another vampire, he won't be able to kill us, Elijah." Klaus said, while reaching his brother position.

"Who said anything about our species, Klaus?" Elijah replied.

Klaus raised his sight to look at his brother, with a surprise expression plastered on his face.

"What are you saying?" Klaus asked, while scrutinizing his brother's face. Elijah stayed immobile and inexpressive, and being inexpressive was something that he was mastering very well.

"I'm saying that we don't know who has the silver dagger at the moment." Elijah replied to his brother, before adding. "And that we need to watch our back, Niklaus."

"You know more, I can tell." Klaus said, while grabbing firmly the right forearm of Elijah. "We are the ultimate species, Elijah. We are the "Originals", nothing and no one can beat us!" Klaus exclaimed in anger, while hitting his chest with his closed fist.

"And yet, Finn is dead, isn't he?" Elijah replied, while staring into Klaus's eyes.

Klaus lowered his sight, while wincing and swallowing a lump in his throat.

"Finn had drawn in the color of blood his own destiny, Elijah, and you know it." Klaus replied to him, while shrugging his shoulders. "He was against being a vampire. He wanted to end his life."

"But, he wasn't the one who did it. He did not choose to die this way, Niklaus." Elijah replied, while staring into Klaus's eyes. "It came to my attention that you got somehow attached to Miss Caroline Forbes." He added to the hybrid.

"You're keeping track on me, now Elijah?" Klaus asked, while smirking. "I'm kind of flatter, brother." He added to him, while walking in circle around him. "But…" He questioned, before placing himself at a near inch of Elijah's face. "This is none of your business; I suggest that you go pay a visit to your dear Elena, if you're looking for entertainment, and keep out of my personal life!"

"As you wish, Niklaus…But, don't come crying on my shoulders if something happened to your lady friend afterward, because this time it will be your hands with blood on them." Elijah replied, while walking toward the door. "By the way, it's nice to see that someone was able to rift the walls of indifference, anger and hate, that you've surrounded yourself for near a thousand years now." He added, before leaving the room.

Klaus closed his fists, while taking a few walking steps toward the bar. He poured, with his shaking hands, another glass of whisky, before throwing the glass on the fire wall with all the anger he had gathered inside of him.

* * *

"Answer me, damn it!" Rebekah mumbled, between her teeth, with her cell phone glued to her right ear, while taking place on her bed, before biting her nails in anticipation.

"You got to be kidding me." She heard Matt voice. "Rebekah, it is nearly 1:00 O'clock in the morning, for God sake! Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm sorry, I wanted to thank you for the ride back home, and…It's just that I was wondering how you were holding up since you know, we saw them together?" She whispered to him, while blushing.

"Well…You'll have to enlighten me, because at this hour, my brain is fried." He answered, while making her arched her eyebrows in surprise.

"Oh…Well, I …I thought that you would still be upset with my brother and Caroline, but my bad, obviously it did not upset you as much as I thought that it would." Rebekah replied to him.

"Rebekah, I had an exhausting night at work, I don't have a clue what you are talking about…And I don't have the time in the middle of the night for your rubbish speech." Matt exclaimed.

Rebekah jumped away from her bed, while passing a hand through her tangled hair, before pacing back and forth.

"What do you mean you have passed the night, at the Grill, working?" Rebekah asked him, completely dumfounded.

"Because it's what I did, Rebekah, and it's not because you do not have to lift a finger to earn you money, that it's the same for me." He replied while adding. "And…I don't know where you get the idea that I gave you a ride back home? Did you meet a random guy again? Were you drunk tonight? Did you think that it was me?" Matt asked, dumbfounded, while straightening his body on a sitting position on his bed. Since they had kissed, in the parlour room of the Mikaelson Manor, it was the first time that he had heard from her.

"Oh, my God…" Rebekah whispered, while putting a hand over her mouth, before adding in anger to herself. "Nick!" It was obvious that her brother had compelled Matt to forget all about their previous encounter.

"Rebekah, answer me…Are you alright? Are you sober?" Matt asked, once more.

"Yes, I am…I'm sorry, I must…I mean, forget about it!" She replied to Matt, before hanging up on him.

"Rebekah…Rebekah?" Matt screamed several times into his cell phone, before closing the line, and wincing. "Damn!" He mumbled between his teeth, before passing a hand through his hair. What was this all about? Since their last kiss, he wasn't able to stop thinking about her. And now, this call was not going to help him fall back soundly asleep…That was for sure!

He lied down on his pillow with his right forearm tucked underneath his head. It's true that something about the past evening sounded strange and made him feel uneasy about it. Like moments of the night missing from his memory, but he had put that in the back of his mind, and had blamed it on him being tired after a hard day at work. Now, after this call, he could not stop thinking that something was even more suspicious about it.

* * *

"I can't believe you did this!" Rebekah yelled from the top of her lungs, while storming into the parlour room and reaching Klaus's standing position, in front of the fireplace.

"Oh, for God sake, what is it now, Bekah? Go to sleep!" Klaus exclaimed, why rolling his eyes to the ceiling.

"You compelled Matt to forget all about the events of tonight!" She lashed out at her brother, while putting her hands on each side of her waist.

"What? No!" He responded, before closing his eyes, wincing, and remembering that Caroline had compelled Donovan to forget about their previous encounter.

"No? Seriously…You're going to lie to my face and telling me that you did not compel Matt to forget all about tonight?" Rebekah asked him, while pointing a finger at his chest.

Klaus stroke his eyes, while shaking his head. _**Ah Caroline, what are you making me do for you, Love?**_ He thought in his mind, before raising his head to stare at his sister.

"The man is a moron, Bekah…I still don't know what you find, even remotely, interesting about him?" He asked her, while crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"That is beside the point, Nick. You've protected your precious Caroline by compelling Matt. He certainly did not ask for this!" She lashed out.

"He'll live, Bekah." Klaus responded to her, while shrugging his shoulders, before adding. "You should be happy that I did not kill him instead." He added, while arching one of his eyebrows, before nodding his head.

"I won't forgive you for this….Sometimes you can be the biggest bastard!" She, hurtfully, screamed at him.

Klaus locked his teary eyes into his sister's, before swallowing a lump in his throat and replying:

"But that is what I am, isn't it, Bekah, the bastard of this family?" Klaus said, before walking toward the door and adding. "Don't wait for me; I'll be out all night…Not that you would care, anyway." He added to her, before leaving the parlour room.

"Nick!" Rebekah yelled his name several times, while rushing into the entrance of the Manor after him, before seeing the front door being slammed in her face. "I'm sorry." She whispered, while putting a hand over her chest, and filling tears rolling on her cheeks.

* * *

Caroline was turning and tossing in her bed since a good hour now. She sighed in anger, while pushing her sheet away from her body, and turning to look at her alarm clock: 2:30 am!

"Seriously?!" She mumbled in desperation in her teeth, before dropping her head back on the pillow. "Oh, I can't sleep!" She murmured to herself, before turning on her right side, sliding her hands under her pillow, and closing her eyes, with memory images of the evening flashing into her mind…

_**He laid himself in top of her, while keeping his lips on her neck, before hearing her moan sounds of ecstasy.** _

_**"Caress me, Caroline…" He murmured to her, as a request, while putting her hands on his chest, and creating discharge of electricity on her fingers, spreading a second later in her entire body.** _

She reopened her eyes widely, while turning on her left side. She re-closed them and focused her thoughts on the beautiful lake view that she has had the chance to see earlier, before suddenly drifting into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

A refreshing summery breeze entered by the opened window of Caroline's bedroom; with on its trail the spirit of the dark shadow of a hybrid.

Klaus took a few silent walking steps to reach the bed, before very so slowly taking a sitting position beside Caroline. She had fallen asleep with the sheet pushed at her feet, while wearing a two pieces PJ, with a short that left her sexy long legs at his sight, and a white lace camisole with a deep cleavage that was showing the roundness of her full breasts, her blond hair spread all over her pillow.

Klaus felt a mix of intense desire and sweet tenderness hitting his entire body all at once. He needed to leave or he would not be able to control what would happen next. But, the tips of his fingers were already sliding on the lengths of her legs, making her moan sounds of pleasure in her sleep. And without being able of controlling himself, he closed his eyes and entered the deepness of her mind, but what he found behind the curtain of her soul, was not in need of any of his erotic compulsion…She was already, and shockingly dreaming of him!

* * *

Caroline was standing in front of the lake, with her eyes closed, while feeling the fresh breeze of the wind caressing her cheeks. She was wearing a see through lace summery dress, with her long hair falling freely on her shoulders. She opened her eyes, while looking at the reflection of the moon over the water, when suddenly her breathing quickened, her pupils widened, her legs started to shake. She raised her right hand and placed it on her chest, while trying to control her raising heartbeats.

Klaus was slowly getting out of the lake, with drops of water running down his naked muscular chest, eyes sparkling with burning desire, parted lips, with the tip of his tongue sliding on their lengths, while passing a slow hand though his wet, tangled, and curly hair. He walked his way out of the water with seductive, sexy, and calculated movements.

He got out of the lake while wearing what God had gave him the day of his birth, which was basically not a single clothes on his back, before showing to Caroline, the intensity of his desire, while making her blush. He reached Caroline standing position, on the lakeshore, before grabbing her by the waist, pulling her strongly against his chest, before sliding his manly hands under the skirt of her dress, while raising the fabric on her thighs, before grabbing the tender part of her flesh.

"Oh…" She moaned in surprise, with flushed cheeks.

"What are you wearing under your dress?" He asked, his lips murmuring the words in top of hers. "As I can hope, and from the sight of it, you're not wearing much at all, Love." He mocked her tenderly.

"I'm wearing nothing underneath my dress." She answered him, while grabbing his naked shoulders to keep her balance. She felt like she was drunk and about to fall on the ground.

"Good girl!" He replied, smirking.

"My dress is all wet." She noticed, before being raised in his arms, her legs wrapped around his waist, while being carried into the water.

"The dress is about to be even wetter." He replied, while entering their bodies into the freshness of the lake.

Caroline entire body tensed while entering the water, before feeling a range of delightful shivers and an intensifying fire reaching her spine. She crossed her arms around his neck, feeling his hands lowering the straps of her dress on her arms.

"You like being with me in the water, Caroline?" He asked the young woman, while lowering his head, his full lips kissing the hollow of her shoulders, before slowly lowering the zipper of her dress.

"Yes…" She murmured, with her eyes closed.

"What else do you want me to do to you?" He asked in a shallow murmur, while raising his lips on the right side of her neck, managing at the same time, to undress her completely out of the said dress, by passing the fabric above her head, and letting it float on the lake.

"I want to be yours…" She murmured to him, in a whisper.

"You already are, sweetheart." He replied, before crashing his mouth on hers in an intense, powerful, and passionate kiss.

* * *

Caroline let out a cry, while strengthening her upper body in a sitting position on the bed, before placing a hand over her chest and opening her eyes widely under the intense realisation and shock of her dream. She was all sweaty, and a range of intense shivers was passing through her entire body, from her head to her toes.

She took several breaths into her lungs, before closing her eyes to try to calm herself down, while repeating to herself: _**This was just a dream, this was just a dream**_ …Then, she raised her right hand to her mouth, while feeling with the tips of her fingers the swallowing of her lips….It was like the kiss of her dream had been real?

She shook her head in denial, while lowering her head back on the pillow, with her hand still placed over her lips.

* * *

Klaus entered the entrance hall of his manor, while whistling, merely, his way up the staircase.

"Nick?" He heard his sister calling him, before turning on himself, while holding the ramp.

"Bekah? Why aren't you sleeping, it's very late?" He asked her, in surprise.

She was holding a shawl over her shoulders, while taking a few walking steps to reach his position on the stairs.

"I was worrying about you, you left, and you were mad, and I felt horrible." She said, while looking at him with tears in her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Nick…I didn't meant what I said." She tried to explain, before adding. "Please forgive me?"

Klaus lowered his sight, while swallowing a lump in his throat and feeling a different range of emotions hitting him all at once, before nodding his head to his sister.

She reached his position on the same stair, raising her body on her tip toes and sweet kissing his left cheek, before climbing the rest of the stairs.

* * *

"Rebekah, can I inquire why you've asked me to bring you at the lake of all places, and after school, none the less?" Matt asked her, while following her footsteps to reach the lakeshore.

She stood immobile, in front of the lake, while seeing Matt reach her standing position from the corners of her eyes, before turning on herself, encircling her arms around his neck, before sliding her mouth on his to kiss him.

Matt stood still for a few seconds, with his eyes widely opened, before sliding one of his hands around her waist, and the other one in her hair, while closing his eyes and returning her kiss.

"Wait a minute, I don't understand this?!" He asked, in complete shock, while gently pushing the Original away from his embrace. "We kissed at your home, and then I did not hear from you for days, except from your call in the middle of the night…And now, you brought me here, to kiss me?" He added, completely dumfounded.

"You couldn't understand…Let just say that I needed to regain a moment than was stolen from me." She responded to him, while nervously rubbing her hands together.

"For God sake, Rebekah…You're like the most complex girl that I ever known!" He exclaimed, while passing a hand through his hair.

Rebekah shrugged her shoulders, before approaching him, and sliding her hands on his chest.

"And, is it bothering you that much?" She asked, while smiling seductively.

"It depends on the day, my mood, and what devil plan you have in your pretty head." Matt replied, while smiling back at her before sliding strands of her hair, behind her ears.

"I don't have a devil plan at this moment." She replied, while biting her bottom lips.

Matt locked his sight in hers, while slowly lowering his head to kiss her again, before hearing both of their cell phones ringing at the same time.

They looked at each other with surprise, before reading their text messages.

"It's from Elijah." Rebekah exclaimed, dumfounded. "And, yes … By the way, he's back in town."

"Same!" Matt said to her.

" _ **Meet me at the Salvatore Boarding house in a half hour. This is not a request, it's an order.**_ " Rebekah read on her small screen.

"What is this about?" Matt asked, while shrugging his shoulders.

"I have no idea." Rebekah replied, honestly, while raising her sight in his.

* * *

Caroline pushed her way inside the passengers' cabin of the Mikaelson private jet, while carrying her luggage in her right hand. She winced when she noticed Klaus sitting in one of the ultra-modern – sophisticated – leather seats. She dropped her bag at her feet, in a big " _ **bang**_ " noise, while crossing her arms in front of her chest, before standing in front of the hybrid with an angry stare.

Klaus folded his newspaper calmly on his laps, before taking a sip of his morning coffee.

"Good morning, sweetheart, how are you on this lovely day?" He asked her, while raising his mischievous stare in hers.

Caroline closed her eyes, while sighing and counting to ten, before reopening them.

"Don't push it, you have hissed and commanded me to be here, and here I am, like a good obedient girl!" She shouted at him.

"Now, Love…I did not command you, I ask you, nicely, to a date, it's not, nearly, the same." He replied, while smiling at her. "You remember our agreement, don't you?"

"Madam, do you want me to take care for your luggage for you?" A steward asked Caroline.

"What?" She busted at the poor soul, before shaking her head and adding. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…Yes, thank you so much." She added, while blushing.

"Not a problem Madam…My name is Alexander, I'm the flight attendant for the duration of this flight, don't hesitate to ask me if you are in need of anything." He replied, while nodding his head in respect, before taking from Caroline's hands her luggage.

Caroline nodded his head, before turning her sight back at Klaus, who was signing her, with his left hand, to take a sitting position on the seat at his left side, near the porthole. She sighed more, before striding over his legs, and taking a place near him.

"Don't forget that there will only be three more dates left after this one." She mumbled angrily in her teeth, while closing her seat belt.

"Sweetheart, how could I ever forget with your lovely voice repeating it to me at every chance that you get?" He responded, with a smile twisting the corners of his lips, while taking his newspaper back in his hands.

"Well" She started. "This date should count for at least three dates. You took advantage of the fact that you are the one deciding of all the conditions regarding our agreement. I would have never accepted to follow you for more than a day."

"Your fault, Love, if you did not put your conditions before, therefore, I put mines." He replied, while turning his head, and blinking an eye at her.

"I had to lie, to cheat, and to compel people for being able to be with you on this airplane." She added to him, while pouting.

"And you're getting quite good at it, if I may say." He mocked her, while giggling.

"This is not a joke, Klaus!" She replied to him, while pushing with her right hand, his newspaper on his laps.

"It's actually quite funny." He replied to her, while smirking more.

"Grr…" She growled the sound of discontent, while crossing her arms in front of her chest, before taking a look outside, through the porthole. "If this is the case, I refuse to speak to you for the all duration of the flight."

Klaus busted into laughter, before stroking his teary eyelids.

"I highly doubt that you could hold your speak for a good twenty hours." He replied to her.

"Twenty hours…You mean cooked up in this airplane with you?!" Caroline exclaimed in panic, before asking. "Where are we going?"

"You'll know soon enough." He responded to her, with a mocking tone of voice.

The airport land crew pushed off the gateway from the entrance of the plane, and Alexander pushed the porthole door, while taking the safety precaution necessary.

Caroline grabbed the arms of her seat, while sighing, and closing her eyes. This plane was way smaller than the one they had took to go to Paris.

"This plane is smaller, isn't it?" She suddenly asked Klaus.

He turned his head to take a look at her, while dropping his newspaper on a near side table.

"It's very safe, Caroline." He murmured to her, while caressing her right cheek with his left hand. "Gilles has been our pilot of Elijah's plane for years now." He added, as an explanation, before sliding a strand of her hair behind her right ear, creating a range of shivers in her spine.

"Elijah?" She repeated, while turning her head to take a glimpse at him, in total surprise.

"Yes, my brother is back at Mystic Falls; therefore, we are able to take the family jet." He responded to Caroline, without giving any further explanation.

"You seem all chippie about it." She responded, while rolling her eyes.

"There's nothing more to say about the return of my brother." He replied, while locking his eyes with hers.

Caroline blushed, before turning her sigh to the porthole, once again, and hearing a voice coming from the plane speakers system.

" _ **Good day Mister Mikaealson, Miss Forbes, my name is Gilles, and I will be your pilot for the duration of this flight. I'll be assisted by Roger, the co-pilot. The duration of this flight, if we don't experience any turbulence should be of approximately of 19 hours, 34 minutes. I'll keep you posted of the flight itinerary to Tokyo in every four to five hours.**_ "

"Tokyo!" She repeated in shock, before turning her head toward Klaus, while showing him sparks of pure joy in her eyes.

"Happy?" Klaus asked, while smiling at Caroline.

She did not answer him, but she smiled back, before turning her sight at the porthole, seeing the plane rolling toward the runway.

" _ **Folks, fasten your seat belts, we're about to take off.**_ " The pilot added into the speakers.

Caroline sighed in fear, while sliding her trembling right hand in Klaus's, making him startle in surprise and turn his head to stare at her, before squeezing her hand and raising it to his mouth to kiss its back.


	7. Tokyo - Part 1

**虎穴に入らずんば虎子を得ず。**

**If you do not enter the tiger's cave, you will not catch its cub.**

* * *

The first memory that would forever stay in Caroline's heart regarding her visit to Tokyo would be the exoticism of the rain. A part of sweet hope, a trace of nostalgia, a hint of fear, and a range of flamboyant colours mixed with a spicy/flowery scent.

The previous days would stay in her heart forever, even if the venomous bite of doubt and fear had seeped into her heart.

* * *

Caroline followed the Japanese butler along the corridor of the 55th floor of this Tokyo luxury hotel, while directing her steps toward Klaus's penthouse suite. The butler opened, with the help of a smart card, the two prestigious entrance doors, before making a reverence in front of Caroline as an invitation to enter inside the luxurious multi-rooms apartment.

An Asiatic décor welcomed her inside the walls of the penthouse.

"ありがとう – Thank you" Klaus addressed the man, in both languages, while nodding his head, and sliding a generous yen bill in the butler's hand.

_**"** _ _**あなたは夜の私のサービスを必要としている** _ _**, Mr. Mikaelson"** _

"Are you in need of my services for the night, Mister Mikaelson?" The assigned butler asked Klaus.

_**"** _ _**いいえ朝食に戻ってきたよ** _ _**" Klaus responded in Japanese.** _

"No. You'll come back for the breakfast."

The butler nodded his head with respect, while lowering his upper body for a reverence, before closing the entrance doors behind his heels.

Caroline scattered the modern, palatial, suite: luxurious hardwood floor, dark mahogany wooded furniture, with an Asian design accent, "L" shape low sitting sofa in exquisite leather, with comfortable silk multi-colours cushions, and a few extra big ones, sporadically placed on the floor. In the middle of the living room, a four glasses wall room, hiding a small Japanese garden, with an aquarium of tropical fishes, and in addition, placed on the ceiling, a skylight reflecting the night starry of Tokyo.

Klaus was exchanging with the Japanese butler, when she took the opportunity to walk along a narrow corridor, where different paintings of talented Japanese artists were placed on the wall for display. She finally reached a wooded sliding door, hiding an exquisite bedroom, with a low, to the floor, Asian bed, with a glass wall that was leading to a very modern bathroom, with as addition on the ceiling, another skylight. But, that was nothing compared to the magnificent view of Tokyo, thanks to a top to bottom windows wall, and a glass door that was leading to the terrace, where luxury outdoor furniture and a modern Jacuzzi awaited her.

Caroline took a deep breath in her lungs at the extraordinary view placed in front of her sight, a hand placed over her chest, while taking a few walking steps toward the security ramp. She grabbed it with her two hands to keep her equilibrium. She felt dizzy and overwhelmed while standing, under the stars, in front of this magnificent city. She closed her eyes, for a few minutes, with her eyelids filled with tears, a hand placed over her mouth, before feeling two manly hands slide on each side of her hips, with two strong arms encircling her waist, and a muscular chest pushing on her back. She felt a soft breath on the right side of her neck, and a low whisper in her right ear.

"You need to let out, all your feelings, Love." Klaus murmured softly to her.

"This is so stupid!" She mumbled incoherently, while feeling a range of convulsions and a flood of tears hitting her entire body.

"Shh…" Klaus whispered to her, his chin resting on the top of her head, his left hand caressing her hair, with his right encircling her waist, before closing his arms tighter around her shaking body. "I got you, I won't let you fall." He whispered, while closing his eyes, and listening to her outburst of profound pain.

"It hurts so much…What's happening?" She mumbled, between two spasms.

"I know, sweetheart." He whispered, while turning her body around in his arms, her head now resting on his chest. "I got you in my arms now, you can lean on me." Klaus murmured, while caressing her back to calm her down.

She grabbed the fabric of his t-shirt with her left hand, while encircling his waist with her right one, before letting out all the anger, the sorrow, and the turmoil of the past year, since she had turned as a vampire. She had never given the chance to mourn the human Caroline, to get rid of all this pain buried inside of her. She always showed the better, stronger part of Caroline Forbes, in front of her family and friends. And now, in Klaus's arms, she was finally accepting her need to be comforted.

She cried her sorrow for what seemed to be a very long time, before passing the back of her hand on her eyelids to sweep away her tears. Klaus opened his eyes, and lowered his sight on Caroline, before grabbing her chin to raise her head, while locking his sight with hers.

"Are you ok, Love? Talk to me?" He asked, while caressing her cheeks, her hair, and the delicate line of her jaw.

Caroline kept quiet, while drowning her sight in his blue eyes, before parting her lips in a secret prayer to be kissed.

"You must know the effect that you have on me, by now, Caroline?" He murmured, while caressing the length of her bottom lip, with the tip of his thumb, in an unbearable caress that created a delightful range of shivers in her entire body, before slowly lowering his head near hers. His mouth met her trembling lips, his breath infiltrating a new life into her soul, with the tip of his tongue caressing their lengths, in sweet kisses.

Caroline mumbled sounds of pleasure, while mouthing his name on her lips, which made Klaus, groaned his pleasure and deepening his kiss even more. He took possession of her mouth, before sliding his tongue in her delightful moisture, with his hands now placed in her lower back. He pushed his pelvis in full contact with hers, while making her realize his obvious hardness of his desire.

She raised her hands on his chest, before sliding her wandering fingers in his hair, while feeling her own breasts becoming extremely sensible at the touch of his muscular chest. Klaus's muscles suddenly tensed with anticipation of giving her more sensual pleasure.

But as soon as this uncontrollable desire for him surfaced, she snapped out of it by pushing him away from her standing position, with both of her hands placed on his chest. She backed away from him and pointed a finger at his direction, with a hand placed over her chest, to calm herself down.

"Don't touch me, Klaus!" She warned him.

Klaus's chest rose under his heavy breaths with his eyes closing under the pressure. He passed a hand through his tangled hair before putting both of them on each side of his waist.

"Caroline, calm down, you have your nerves all over the place, Love." He regained his calm.

"You took advantage of me and the fact that I… I'm lost at the moment." She replied.

"You're more than lost, Caroline…You are mourning the human Caroline inside of you…And, believe me, Love…" He addressed the issue, while closing his fists in anger, and locking his sight in hers. "If I had wanted to take advantage of you, I would have compel you, put you on my shoulders; bring you into my bed, before ravaging your body by making love to you for hours, while making you forget all the other men before me."

Caroline startled, while blushing intensively at his saying, before lowering her sight.

"It's on my terms, Klaus, I suggested this agreement." She warned him.

"No, it's on my terms, Caroline!" He lashed out at her, while sighing with anger, before adding. "You're mine when you are with me, I control the game!"

"Everything is just a game to you, isn't it?" She yelled at him. "Let just play the "Alpha Man" game, to display the super power of the Original hybrid!"

"But you see, sweetheart, "You" started this, "You" came to me with this agreement, I certainly didn't!" He lashed out, while pointing a finger at Caroline. "Now, if you could only become half of the woman that I know that you could be in my arms, you would finally confess that you came up with this stupid idea of dating agreement because you needed a brilliant idea to find your way into my bed. When all you had to do is simply ask, Love."

Caroline blanched under the insult, while taking a few walking steps to reach Klaus, before slapping him across both cheeks.

Klaus groaned his anger and disapproval, before raising his right hand to his cheeks, while rubbing his red skin.

"You raise your hand one more time on me, Caroline, and I swear that I'll put you in my bed sooner than you think. And I will give a damn about respecting your wishes, if this should happen again." He busted at her, before walking toward the sliding glass doors and entering the luxurious penthouse bedroom.

Caroline sighed, before closing her eyes and crouching on the terrace floor, her head buried in her hands.

* * *

Caroline entered the penumbra of the bedroom, with the bright rays of the moon to direct her walk. She took a few more steps toward the bed, where Klaus was lying on the silk bedspread with his right forearm placed under his head, on the pillow, while keeping is sight on the ceiling, with one of his knees elevated.

She coughed several times, while nervously rubbing her hands together, and noticing no reaction from his part. She took one more step before sitting at the foot of the bed, and taking a few glimpses in his direction.

"I'm sorry, I was out of line." She murmured, while lowering her sight. "I was standing in front of this panoramic view of Tokyo, and all my emotions suddenly took the better of me."

Klaus turned his head to look at her, with a smile spreading on his lips.

"Apology accepted." He responded, while nodding his head.

"And thank you for bringing me here, Tokyo is a beautiful city." She acknowledged.

"You're welcome." He answered.

She nodded her head, in thankfulness, while lowering her flushed cheeks. Klaus had shown her kindness, more than once, and was making her doubt his true evilness.

"You're right; I did not mourn my human self yet." She confessed, while shrugging her shoulders.

"What makes you so afraid of embracing your vampire side, Love?" He asked, while sliding his left hand under the pillow.

"I don't know how to control it." She murmured, while avoiding his sight. "Stefan showed me how to control my urge to feed human blood, but for the rest I don't know?"

"Who said you need to control it. What if it was the other way around, what if you needed to embrace it?" He asked her.

Caroline closed her eyes in annoyance. Why would she think that he could understand her point of view?

"I'm sorry to have disturbed you." She said in annoyance, before feeling his right hand grab her wrist.

"Stay, hear me out, Love." He asked her politely.

She looked at him for a moment, before lying at the other extremity of the gigantic bed, face to face with him, her head resting on the other pillow.

"The human Caroline is gone forever, as much as you want her to still be here, she'll never come back." He started explaining to her.

"I know that now." She whispered, while feeling a lump in her throat. "I just miss her so much." She added, with tears filling her eyes.

"She is here. She just transformed into something so much better, and magnificent." Klaus responded, with a smile from ear to ear. "Why can't you see it, sweetheart?"

"How can you even say that to me, you of all people? Aren't you the one who said to me on my birthday that you have thought of ending your vampire life more than once?" She asked him.

"You remember all the things I've said to you, I'm quite touch, Caroline." He responded, while smirking.

"Oh, that is beside the point!" Caroline mumbled, angrily, between her teeth, while rolling her eyes to the ceiling.

"But you're right, I did, I wanted to die! And then, I remembered that I was a force of nature, all by myself, and that I needed to stay and fight, and procreate our species." He responded to her.

"Procreate our species, by killing innocent people?" She lashed out at him, while shaking her head in disbelief.

"I don't expect you to understand as of today, Caroline, but you will understand some day." He answered her.

She rolled her eyes to the ceiling once more, while turning her head on the pillow, and staring at the ceiling, before asking in a murmur.

"Why do you want me?"

"Tell me why not?" He responded, before adding. "You're the bright light in my darkness, Caroline."

She turned her head to look into his eyes, before feeling a range of intense emotions hitting her all at once, while feeling his hand caressing her left cheek.

"You're not only beautiful, full of light, and strong. You have the capacity to make me forget." He murmured as a confession.

She frowned in surprise, while staring at him. What did he meant by that exactly?

"You need to sleep." He added in a whisper, while caressing her hair.

"Mm…You're right." She whispered while closing her eyes. "I need to go to my bedroom."

"I won't touch you, and I won't seduce you, Caroline. You can sleep with me in here." He added, truthfully.

"I don't believe you." She mumbled, half asleep.

"You should believe me; I could never harm you in any way. But, I would harm anyone who would put your life in danger." He whispered, while approaching his body from hers, before kissing her forehead.

"Tomorrow morning, we'll take the subway and I'll show you all the food markets of Tokyo, a real delight for the eyes." He whispered, near her ear.

"Ok" She responded, before drifting into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

Elena Gilbert closed her eyes, while letting a profound sight out of her mouth, while trying to calm herself down. She nervously rubbed her hands on the fabric of her jeans, before directing her walking steps toward the front door of the Salvatore' Boarding House. She turned the handle, before standing straight as an "I" in front of Elijah Mikaelson.

"Elijah." She murmured, while drowning her sight in his, before curving her lips into a timid smile.

"Elena." He responded, while smiling back at her. "It seems we meet again?" He added, while keeping his eyes locked with hers, and seeing her blush at his insistent gaze. "May I enter?"

"Of Course you can." She responded, before signing him to enter.

"Do they have responded to my invitation?" He asked, before sliding his hand on her lower back, while inviting her to pass in front of him, before creating a surprising range of delightful shivers in her spine.

"For the most part, I guess, I am not quite sure who you invited?" She responded, while shrugging her shoulders and entering the parlour room with Elijah at her side.

"Hey, grandpa Original, It's been quite a long time since the last time I saw you? How's everything? Could you go back from where you are coming from?" Damon mumbled, apparently incapacitated by the alcohol, while taking a few unsteady walking steps toward Elijah, with a glass of Bourbon in his right hand, and the bottle in his other. "Can I offer you a drink: Green tea, chamomile, to help the elderly sleep?"

"Damon!" Elena exclaimed, in anger.

"What Elena?" Damon responded, before lowering his face at a near inch of hers.

"This is my house, and this Original/freak show is barging in here, like he owns the place!" He explained himself, while pouring more alcohol in his glass.

"I'm so sorry!" Elena murmured to Elijah, while crossing her arms in front of her chest. "He's been like this since Alaric's death." She explained, while shrugging her shoulders.

"No, Elena, my brother has been like this since ever!" Stefan said, while entering the parlour room. "Pardon my brother, Elijah, he was never known as someone who had good manners." The young vampire added, before pointing a finger at Damon's direction. "And it is not your home; it is our home, mine and yours, Damon!"

"Oh right! My brother the "licking ass"! Forgive me for forgetting that part: How willing you are of bending in front of that Original." Damon replied to his brother, while making a mockery reverence, and nodding toward Elijah.

"Damon, it's enough!" Elena lashed out in anger. "I'm sorry, Elijah." She added, while timidly meeting his gaze.

"No insult taken." Elijah responded her.

"Right, Elena…how could I have forgotten, he got your panties in a twist also, pardon me, Princess!" Damon mumbled, angrily, between his teeth, while making her blush.

Elijah rolled his eyes while sighing with annoyance, before sliding his hands in his pants pockets. He stood in front of the bay window, while thinking that after living more than a thousand years on this earth; he had learned to practice his tolerance and patience.

"Hi!" Bonnie said, while entering the parlour room. "What is this about; I've received a text message from Elijah, to meet him here?" She added, before dropping her handbag on a console table. "Oh…You're here?" She mumbled, while blushing and noticing Elijah standing position near the window.

"Miss Bennett." Elijah saluted, while nodding his head.

"Ok, brother of mine, what is this annoying meeting about?" Rebekah asked, while entering the room with Matt on her footsteps.

"Oh, look who's here, the blond Original chick who slept with the entire male population of Mystic Falls!" Damon mocked Rebekah, while gulping another glass.

"You included!" Rebekah giggled, while crossing her arms in front of her chest, and smirking at Elena, who blenched at the insult, while avoiding Elijah's stare.

"I'm not interested in you anymore, sweetheart; I prefer my one night conquest to be less of a whore!" Damon responded, tit for tat, before noticing Matt's anger directed at him. "What Donovan? Don't tell me, she got you under her spell also?" Damon asked, before seeing the young human boy closing his fists in anger.

"Don't push me, Salvatore." Matt warned, while shaking his head.

"I am not pushing you; man … It's just a friendly warning to not get into her panties too quickly. She can be a hand full that little one, and quite a snake, if she wants to be. One minute she is lying underneath you, the next she is torturing you while chaining you to a wall." Damon explained, while smirking at Rebekah.

"Oh you can admit that you enjoyed it, Damon, I won't tell." Rebekah responded, perniciously.

"Damon, stop it!" Stefan warned his brother.

"What, brother? You want to have a taste of her also? Elena is not enough for you anymore; you need to rekindle the past I suppose?" Damon asked Stefan.

"Enough!" Elijah yelled, as an order, while making everybody startle and turn their sight in his direction. "You are acting like children! And Rebekah, you should handle yourself better, you're a Mikaelson not a girl from the street. As for you, young, foolish, and egocentric Damon, one day your temperament and insolence will lead you to your death, you're lucky that it is me who's standing in this room, and not a real enemy, or you'll be a pill of dust already!" Elijah warned, while narrowing his sight on the young vampire.

Rebekah stared into her older brother's eyes, while blushing and lowering her sight in shame, before feeling the tip of Matt's fingers brushing the inside of her left hand, as an almost unnoticeable, comfort gesture. Damon frowned, while biting the inside of his cheeks and lowering his sight as submission. Stefan closed his eyes, before nodding his head.

"Please forgive us, Elijah." Stefan presented his apologies to Elijah, while nodding his head. "Why did you ask all of us to have this meeting with you today? You've been away from Mystic Falls for quite a while now?" Stefan asked him.

"Yes, Grandpa, what is the real purpose of this uneventful gathering?" Damon asked, while smirking.

"It came to my attention that Alaric Saltzman was found dead in an alley near the Mystic Falls Grill." Elijah said, while crossing his arms in front of his chest, and slowly pacing back and front. "Damon found his body, am I right?" He asked.

"Yes." Damon responded, while lowering his sight, and closing his fists in anger.

"Now, we all know that Alaric Saltzman, with the help of my mother, had become the ultimate Original vampire slayer." Elijah explained to them.

"Where are you going with all of this?" Stefan asked, mostly intrigued, while crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Let me explained, Stefan." Elijah replied, with a hand gesture, while continuing his walking pace. "This said the only way of killing Mister Saltzman was with the silver dagger, created also by my mother."

"There is no new knowledge in your saying." Damon busted, while shrugging his shoulders and rolling his eyes to the ceiling.

"To kill Alaric Saltzman, you couldn't be a vampire or a hybrid, or it would kill you instantly at the same time. A human needed to do this task, but the only humans that knew about this ultimate weapon that could destroy the entire line of vampires were: Elena, Bonnie, Matt and Jeremy." Elijah presented his argument. "None of the mentioned humans seemed to have done it, therefore, who could have done it, who would want to destroy our line of vampires?"

"Are you thinking the werewolves?" Stefan asked, while narrowing his sight on Elijah.

"No, that could have been a good guess, if Tyler Lockwood had not been turned as a hybrid or if my brother had not wiped off the map the almost entire population of werewolves, for his main obsession of creating his army of hybrids." Elijah responded, before taking a sitting position on the right arm of the sofa, where Elena was already sitting.

"Then whom could it be, Elijah?" Elena asked.

"I only see one possibility: Another species that would have stolen the ultimate weapon in hope to destroy us in a near future." Elijah explained to them, while nodding his head to her.

"Oh, you got to be kidding me!" Damon exclaimed. "Another species, really, that is your explanation? After the werewolves, the moon and sun curse, what can we expect now, an army of penguins?" He added, while shaking his head in disbelief.

"It's not because you don't believe in other species as powerful as us, that they can't exist, Damon." Elijah responded to him.

"Then the ultimate weapon made by your mother would be in the hands of more powerful enemies than Alaric?" Stefan asked the Original.

"That is in fact my way of seeing this present situation, Stefan." Elijah agreed, while nodding his head.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Stefan inquired.

"Be on your guards, like you were when Alaric had my mother's weapon in his possession." Elijah suggested, before adding. "The one who needs to be protected the most, and by all cost, and this to spare all of your lives, is my brother Niklaus, if this enemy has the ultimate weapon in his hands, Klaus could be the first target, therefore the majority of you could be all dead in a matter of seconds."

"And how do you know this fairy-tale story exactly?" Damon busted in anger, while taking a few walking steps to reach Elijah. "He, obviously, not telling the half of what he knows!" Damon accused Elijah, while scattering the entire room. "Don't be blind, he already knows who the enemy is, it's obvious!" Damon yelled his accusations.

"I've been on this earth a longer time that you have, Damon. I've learned to let go of my oversized ego, and keep some of what I know to myself, and give the parts that I can give to others. One day, only one can hope, that you will let go of yours. I've known my share of enemies over the centuries, most of them died, some of their species vanished with the call of time. Therefore, I can't say, with certainty, who's this enemy." Elijah replied, while locking his sight in Damon's.

"What else do you suggest that we do?" Stefan asked more.

"Stay on your guards, and keep your eyes open. This present danger situation is not about to vanish, not by a long shot." Elijah replied to Stefan, before adding. "Where's your friend Elena?" Elijah suddenly asked her.

"My friend, who are you talking about?" Elena replied, in surprise.

"Yes, the young vampire woman, with blond hair, Caroline Forbes, if I remember correctly?" He asked, while raising one of his eyebrows with suspicious. "I send her an invitation to be present?"

"Caroline?" Elena repeated, before turning her head toward Bonnie.

"I don't know." Bonnie responded, while shrugging her shoulders.

"She had to left town for a family emergency." Matt explained, while seeing Rebekah roll her eyes to the ceiling and closing her fists in anger, which did not go unnoticed for Elijah.

"Well then, keep Miss Forbes informed." He said to all, while rising on his feet. "Rebekah, can I have a word with you, please." He asked, signing her to follow him with his right hand, while taking a few walking steps away from the assembly, toward the entrance door. He turned his sight at his sister and assured himself that no one could hear them. "Where is Niklaus?" Elijah whispered to her.

"I don't know where he is these days, Elijah." Rebekah murmured, while shrugging her shoulders. "He's been absent most of the time, while seeing his blonde bimbo!"

"That's what I thought." Elijah replied, while taking his blackberry in his hands. "He was absent for what reasons?" He added as a question, while checking his reply messages from Klaus, unfortunately there was none.

"They travelled." She replied, while rolling her eyes, in annoyance.

"What do you mean they travelled?" Elijah asked her, while grabbing her shoulders.

"I think they went to Paris." Rebekah answered him, completely dumfounded by his reaction.

"Damn him!" Elijah mumbled angrily in his teeth, while dialling a number.

"Elijah you are starting to scare me, what is going on?" Rebekah asked him, while grabbing his left forearm.

"Yes, Mikaelson here, Is the jet available to take off?" He asked his interlocutor. "And the plane landed in which country?" He asked more, in front of a nervous Rebekah. "Thank you!" He added, before closing the line, and nervously passing a hand through his hair. "Fuck! The airplane landed in Tokyo in all places!"

"Elijah, you are really scaring me now, please you have to tell me what is going on." She begged him.

"I have to go, Rebekah … But before, what can you tell me of his past actions, and whereabouts the last past weeks?" Elijah asked her, while grabbing her arms.

"I don't know. He's been seeing Caroline Forbes, on and off. I couldn't say what sick agreement they have between them, Elijah. None of her stupid friends are even aware that they're seeing each other. Caroline Forbes has now left to visit a family relative in a fake emergency; she is with Niklaus, that I am sure of it." Rebekah busted the truth to his brother.

"Could he have compelled her to follow him?" Elijah asked more.

"No." She replied, while shaking her head. "She has been lying to her friends, and she even compelled Matt Donovan to forget about an encounter we had with them, couple of days ago."

"He's putting her in danger." Elijah said, while frowning, before putting his hands on each side of his waist.

"What danger, Elijah?" Rebekah begged him to tell.

"Stay safe as much as you can, I have to go." Elijah replied to his sister, before storming outside the house.

"Elijah, what is going on?" She yelled, while standing over the threshold of the door, before seeing him walked toward his car.

"Is he leaving?" Elena asked Rebekah, while reaching her standing position, to which Rebekah nodded her head.

"Don't you have enough men pinning over you, Elena? You need to have my brother also?" She added, before seeing Elena storming outside the house after Elijah, while ignoring her say.

"Rebekah?" She heard Matt voice calling from behind her, before turning on herself and staring in surprise into his eyes.

"What did you mean when you said to your brother that Caroline compelled me?" He asked her, while closing his fists in anger, before asking. "What memory did she erase?"

"I've tried to explain it to you several times, but you've refused to believe me." Rebekah tried to explain once more.

Matt closed his eyes, while sighing, before pushing Rebekah out of his way, and getting out of the house.

"Matt, please listen to me?" Rebekah screamed, while running after him.

"I'm fed up with listening to all of you and most of all, I'm fed up of you, Rebekah, and I'm fed up being in the middle of this supernatural stuff. I just want to regain my true human self!" He lashed out, before reaching his truck, taking his place on the driver seat, and starting the engine on a squeal of tires.

"Matt, I only wanted to protect you." Rebekah whispered, with tears filling her eyes, while bending her upper body, with her hands placed on her knees.

* * *

"Elijah?" Elena called, while running after him.

"Elena." He replied with surprise, before sliding the car key in the driver's door.

"I know you, Elijah." She said upfront, while reaching his standing position and sliding a strand of her long hair behind her right ear. "You're hiding something. Something or someone, I'm not sure, but I feel that it is even scarier than what we could all imagine."

"We always had that special connection between us, Elena." He replied, while smiling and drowning his sight in hers. "We are able to feel the deepest thought of the other."

Elena blushed at his saying, before raising her hand on his right forearm.

"I'm afraid, Elijah. I can see in your eyes that you are worrying about something also, and I've always known you, as unshakable and extremely sure of yourself." She explained her concerns to him, before adding. "And, what I saw in your eyes, today, was human fear."

"I'm not human, Elena. You've known that fact about me for a long time now." He replied to her, while raising one of his eyebrows, and smiling.

"For me, you have the qualities that make a person human." She replied to him.

Elijah stared into her eyes for a short moment, while feeling a range of intense emotions, hitting him, all at once. He swallowed a lump in his throat, before lowering his sight and opening the passenger door of his car.

"But, I'm not human anymore; therefore you shouldn't put me on a pedestal. Don't be afraid, Elena; I'll assure your safety and security, nothing will happen to you, and your friends, under my wings, I'll make sure of that." He promised her, while nodding his head and taking a sitting place in his car, before starting the engine.

"It's not me that I am mostly worried about." She whispered to herself, while looking at the car disappear at the horizon.

* * *

Caroline startled, while hearing the door close behind the charming Asian secretary who had politely asked the young woman to follow her inside an interior garden, while using impeccable English.

Now she was standing alone, in the middle of this gigantic and beautiful flowers garden, while rubbing her hands nervously. Maybe she should not have accepted this invitation? Maybe this Arian Satō was not a friend of the Mikaelson Family or Klaus? Maybe she was in danger? Caroline shook her head, while closing her eyes. This was Tokyo, not Mystic Falls, she reminded herself, while grasping a sense of reality. She was not in any danger, and she had no reason to refuse this invitation, she repeated in her mind to convince herself, while taking, in her hands, the invitation card from her handbag.

_**Miss Forbes, Please accept this humble invitation.** _

_**Join me for lunch, along with Mr. Mikaelson, at my Head Office Enterprise.** _

_**My driver will pick you up shortly. I am an old friend of the Mikaelson family.** _

_**Regards, Arian Satō Satō Family Enterprise** _

The chauffeur had mentioned to Caroline that Klaus would be joining her and Mr. Satō shortly. And as Klaus had told her yesterday morning, while showing her the food markets of Tokyo, it was one of the biggest insults to refuse a host invitation in Japan. This said she had been into the obligation, and without any other choices but to accept it. What was she supposed to do? He had left her alone for a few hours, to attend some business matters, without any warning from his part that she was, technically, forbidden to refuse this invitation.

She looked at the space around her, before taking a few walking steps toward a range of exquisite tropical flowers. These ones more special at her eyes than the others, her delicate petals opened on a range of light to dark pink color.

"That specific Asian flower is named: チェリー- Cherry." She heard a voice addressing her, in both languages.

Caroline turned on herself, while placing a hand over her chest and drowning her sight into the one of a young, tall, and handsome Asian man, who took several walking steps to reach her standing position, before holding his pace, smiling and tilting his head to the left, while studying her facial feature.

"Cherry blossoms in Japan are symbolic of the transience and impermanence of life because they don't bloom for long. The fall of the Cherry blossoms also symbolized the warriors who have died in battle, thus connecting the blossoms with the samurai Ethos." He explained, before taking her right hand to kiss its back, while staring intensively into Caroline's eyes. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Forbes."

While meeting Arian Satō for the first time, Caroline felt a range of shivers hitting her spine all at once, wonder, curiosity, intensity, but most of all: fear.

"I don't know much about exotic flowers." Caroline replied to him, while slowly pulling her hand away from his.

"Life is a mean to an end, we are meant to learn everything about what's surrounding us, would you say, sweet Caroline?" Arian asked, while inviting her to walk toward a stone path filled with more tropical flowers and plants.

"I guess." Caroline replied to him, while nervously swallowing a lump in her throat.

"You are overwhelmed by my presence, aren't you?" Arian asked, while smiling to her.

"I …" Caroline baffled, before lowering her flushed cheeks.

"My humble apologies, this is obviously the bad effect I have on people, every time I meet someone new. It must have been a bad Japanese curse murmured in front of my baby crib, would you say?" He said to Caroline, with his most charming smile.

Caroline smiled back, before lowering her sight.

"No, please...It's obviously me who had lost all good manners for a moment. Thank you for the invitation, Mr. Satō." She replied to him, while nodding her head in respect.

"Please Caroline, call me Arian, we already established a deep flowers connection between us." He added, while winking, before sliding his hand on her lower back to gently push her toward a table setting, inside a gazebo, near an artificial small pool of water, filled with red fishes.

"Fishes symbolized wealth in the Asian culture." He explained, while pulling a chair, and inviting the young woman to take a sitting position, before taking his own in front of Caroline. "Can I offer you Jasmine tea?" He asked her, while taking a tea pot in his right hand.

"Please, thank you." She responded, while handing to him a porcelain cup. "It's magnificent. I mean the garden in the middle of a corporate building, it's not something that you see very often, I suppose."

Arian raised his sight, before smiling and handing her tea cup.

"I have this defect, Caroline; I always need to be surrounded by beautiful living things." He replied to her. "The corporate world can rapidly become, dark, cold and impersonal."

"Well, it's certainly gorgeous." She added.

"As you are yourself while standing in front of me." He replied, while making her blush. "Another defect, Caroline, I always speak my mind."

"Mm…How are you related to the Mikaelson family…I mean…They are…I mean…You must know…I mean…" Caroline stammered through her sentence, before lowering her head, to hide her rosy cheeks. She was making an idiot of herself.

"What you want to know is: if I know what they are? The answer is yes…As I know what you are Caroline." He replied, while taking a gulp from his tea cup, his piercing black eyes set on watching every of her moves. "Let just say that I am an old acquaintance of Elijah, knowing that his brother Klaus, was in town, it was my obligation to invite him and yourself, for lunch, Japanese hospitality tradition, of course."

For a strange reason, Caroline had the certainty that his last sentence was all made up for her intention.

"And Mister Klaus Mikaelson will be here soon, don't worry. That is what you're thinking, aren't you?" He asked, with a smile spreading on his lips. "Along while wondering if I could kill you in this garden, before throwing your dead boy as food for the fish." He added, with a mocking tone of voice.

"The thought crossed my mind." She honestly replied, while smirking herself.

"I'm not in the habit of killing beautiful women, Caroline, and even less, one that caught my eyes, something that did not happen to me since a long, long time." He replied, while making her blush even more.

"Are you in the habit of killing something else than beautiful woman, Arian?" She asked him, tit for tat.

"Touché!" He exclaimed, with a laugh, before adding. "You are not only beautiful; you're intelligent as well, another quality that's adding to my growing attraction to you."

The feeling of fear hit Caroline once more. She stared into his eyes for a short moment, before lowering her sight, with the welcoming arrival of the secretary who had previously welcomed her.

She nodded her head in respect to Caroline, before lowering her upper body near Arian's right ear, while murmuring to him that his presence was required in his office.

"My apologies, Caroline, it seems that the corporate world is calling me once more, I need to leave you by yourself, for a very short moment, and in the meantime, my secretary will bring you something to eat." He excused himself, while rising on his feet, before storming out of this paradise garden.

"Miss Forbes, what would you like to eat, and are you in need of any blood?" The secretary asked her, with the most charming smile. Caroline regained a sense of reality from the mysterious and mystic spell that she was under in the presence of this man named: Arian Satō.

* * *

Rebekah was pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace in the parlour/living room of the Mikealson Manor, while checking, for the hundreds of times, her text messages on her cell phone. Not a single message from Klaus, Elijah or Matt? She suddenly heard the doorbell sound of the main entrance. She ran toward the entrance door, before turning the handle, and standing immobile in front of the human boy.

"Can I come inside?" He asked, in a neutral tone of voice.

"Sure…Please." She responded nervously, while seeing him pass beside her, before closing the door.

"I don't want to be a pawn in the middle of this vampire war, Rebekah." Matt confessed to her, while putting his hands on each side of his waist. "I am done being the one that everybody laughs at for being most of the time clueless about what is going on around him."

Rebekah nodded her head, while blushing, and rubbing her hands nervously.

"I understand, I would probably feel the same way at your place." She responded honestly to him.

"I feel ashamed." Matt added to her, while passing a nervous hand through his hair.

"Why? Why would you feel like that, Matt? You're an awesome guy, no … You are actually more than awesome, and you're kind, considerate, generous, and perfectly human in so many ways." She replied to him.

"And a fool, you forgot a fool, Rebekah." He added to her.

"I'm sorry, I truly am, Matt." She responded.

"I'm sorry also." Matt said.

"For what, I'm a manipulative bitch; didn't you hear Damon? You should never apologize to me, Matt. I screwed up, in many more ways than one, I always do." She responded to him.

"No, you actually told me the truth for once, about Caroline, when I was refusing to believe in you." He replied to her, before asking. "What did she make me forget?"

"Eh… Mm… I don't know if I should tell you. It's in the past now." Rebekah responded, while lowering her blushed cheeks.

"I beg you, Rebekah. I need to know." He asked more.

"She made you forget about a night, in which you find her in the arms on my brother." She explained to him, while avoiding his sight.

Matt groaned, while closing his fists in anger.

"What else? When and where was that?" Matt asked her.

"It's not important … The prior reason that she did it was because she needed you to forget her encounter with Klaus." She explained to him.

"What does she want with your brother, for God sake?" Matt wondered, while pacing back and forth in front of her. "No offence, Rebekah, but he is her number one enemy."

"None taken, and I don't know, Matt. I did not figure that part yet." She replied to him, while shrugging her shoulders.

"I'm such an idiot; I always give my complete trust to my friends and family. And at the end of the day, I'm the one who's always mocked." He added, while lowering his head, and closing his eyes.

"No, I never mocked you. You've been so good to me." She confessed.

"Were you there?" He asked, before adding. "I mean, that night, where you there with me?"

"Yes, I was with you." She nodded in response.

"What were we doing?" he asked more.

"You brought me to the lake, we…" She started explaining, before blushing. "We took a walk and then we sat and talked."

"That is all? We only talk?" He added more, while narrowing his eyes at her.

Rebekah turned her back at him, while nervously rubbing her hands together. What was she supposed to do now? The man was feeling unloved and unappreciated, and she was part of the reason. She understood too well that feeling of not belonging anywhere, or with anybody.

"We …" She started, while closing her eyes.

"What did we do, Rebekah?" He asked her, while putting his hands on her shoulders, before turning her body to face him.

"We had sex … I mean, we made love." She murmured as a lie, to a speechless and shocked, Matt.

* * *

The glass skyscraper of the "Satō Family Enterprise" presented itself in front of Klaus's sight. The building was located in one of the most corporate downtown street of Tokyo, while standing in all its glory, with its opulence and powerfulness. Klaus got out of the limousine, before closing his fists in anger and unfolding the crumpled card he held in his closed fist.

_**Mr. Mikaelson, your presence is requested for Lunch.** _

_**Join me with your delightful friend, Caroline Forbes** _

_**A limousine will drive you to my head quarter around 12:00 pm** _

_**Regards, Arian Satō Satō Family Enterprise** _

Klaus stormed inside the building, while pushing the revolving doors in a hurry, with the narrowed gaze of a wild animal chasing his latest prey. Caroline had been abducted under his careful, security watch, and not a single leaving soul would stay alive after disrespecting him and her safety, this way, not even the soul of one of the members of the most powerful family of Tokyo, and certainly not this: Arian Satō.

Arian Satō was sitting in front of his modern glass desk, in his comfortable leather desk chair, with behind him, the most breathtaking panoramic view of Tokyo.

The white marble floor, the red Asiatic rugs, a majestic abstract paint on the wall, and floor to ceiling bamboos, where the only decorating aspects of this very bare, minimalist, luxurious, modern office.

Arian raised his sight toward the double entrance door of his office, while hearing the shrill noise of a fight behind the walls, before dropping his golden platted pen on his desk top, leaning his back on the chair, with his hands joined in front of his face, and a sarcastic, devious smile on his lips. He saw the doors being pushed open, with several of his guards jumping on the back of the intruder, their heads being snatched away from their bodies, hearts pulled from their abdomens, in a matter of seconds. Unfortunately for the intruder, the number of guards won over his strength. He was thrown on the floor, and maintain in an immobile position.

"Mister Mikaelson, I supposed?" Arian asked Klaus, while arching an eyebrow. "Firstly, let me thank you for accepting my humble invitation to lunch, and secondly, for this unexpected display of entertainment. As you say in America, I am always a sucker for a good fight." He added, with a smile, while rising on his feet, in an impeccable, high quality, two pieces business suit, before sliding his hands in his front pants pockets, and taking a few walking steps toward Klaus's lying position on the floor.

"Let me go, or I swear..." Klaus mumbled angrily in his teeth.

"Thirdly, my humble gratitude for reminding me that my guards are for the most part, complete idiots. You made me realized that their training in Asian combat needs to be re-evaluated. The ones you killed did not deserve any lesser pain for their incompetence." Arian concluded, while signing his remaining guards. "Let him go!" He ordered them, before adding in his natal language. "体を取り除く- Get rid of the bodies." "

Klaus was put back on his feet, and the guards got rid of the dead bodies in a matter of seconds, before leaving the two men face to face, in the middle of the office.

"The marble floor will need cleaning, to get rid of the blood, but it can wait." Arian noticed, while smirking, turning on himself, and directing his walking steps toward a wall panel, before pushing it and reaching for a glass on shelf.

"Can I offer you a glass of saké Mr. Mikaelson?" Arian asked Klaus.

"Where is Caroline?" Klaus inquired, while closing his fists in anger.

"Lord Klaus, One of the youngest of the Mikaelson family, the bastard child if my memory serves me well, please forgive me if I am mistaking…So impatient and unwise, and yet, so strong and frightening at the same time, very interesting combination of strength and weakness for an Original vampire." Arian analyzed, while making Klaus wince.

"Nothing would give me more pleasure than ripping your inside out at the present moment." Klaus mumbled between his teeth, while narrowing his sight on the young Asian man.

"And what an honour it would be to become one day your worthy adversary. Your brother had warned me about you, and I basically disregard his saying, I see now, that he was speaking the truth." Arian said, before adding. "And, we both know that you won't harm me in any way, at least for the time being, you need to assure the safety of Miss Forbes."

"Elijah? You know my brother?" Klaus asked, suspiciously. "I doubt that he had mentioned you as a friend?"

"Let just say that we are past acquaintance, with opposite and similar goals." Arian explained, while taking several gulps of his Saké, before subtly changing the subject of conversation. "What a pleasure to have met your friend, the delightful Miss Caroline Forbes."

"Leave her out of whatever this is!" Klaus warned him, slyly.

Arian took a few walking steps toward his desk, before leaning his back on the desktop and smirking.

"Love is the greatest weakness for a vampire, Mr. Mikaelson." Arian mentioned to him, before adding. "I was not interested in a woman since more than four hundred years, taking my physical pleasure from them, but without any real connection, but that was before meeting your delightful lady friend. How many years it's been for you since the Tatia Petrova scandal? Quite a few I believe. Caroline is quite a catch if I may add … A very beautiful, intriguing and strong woman…I hope you won't mind, if I am putting myself in the running for her attention?"

Klaus took a few walking steps to reach Arian's position, while narrowing his angry sight on his gaoler, before biting into his contracted jaws.

"You hurt her; and I'll make sure that your entire family will be drowning in their own bath of blood. Did I make myself clear?" Klaus whispered, while locking his sight in his adversary.

"Crystal clear" Arian responded, with a smile.

Klaus startled suddenly, while raising one of his eyebrows, and pointing a finger at him.

"I met you before?" He said, while studying the man's facial features.

"I believe you're right." Arian confirmed, before crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Paris, at the Moulin Rouge, I apologize for bumping accidentally into you." Klaus mentioned, completely dumfounded, while realizing that this enemy man had followed him since quite a time now.

"I believe you did. I was actually quite impressed by your knowledge of my natal language." Arian responded to Klaus.

"One thousand years on this earth gives you enough time to study a lot of things: continents, languages, technology, people, but most of all, your enemies…What did you study in life? What is your goal, Mister ArianSatō?" Klaus asked, while studying him intensively.

"You're wondering what I am, aren't you?" Arian asked, while smirking.

"You're not human, you're not a vampire, and you're not a werewolf, so what are you?" Klaus asked him.

"You know, Arian is actually my international first name, as an international business man, who's dealing quite oftentimes with north, central, and south America, I needed my first name to have an English tone attached to it." He started explaining to Klaus. "Usually, only my friends are granted with the privilege to call me by my real first name, but like you, I don't have many friends, Mr. Mikaelson. This time around, I am willing to make an exception, if I may, myself, call you by your first name?" Arian asked. "And no Klaus, I am not human; my family is actually the last of the _**Kitsune**_ species." He added, before pausing briefly, and finally announcing.

"So, please, feel free to call me _**Shinichi**_!"


	8. Tokyo - Part 2

会議は、分離の始まりに過ぎない。

A meeting is only the beginning of a separation.

* * *

"So, please, feel free to call me Shinichi."

"Not a common name." Klaus responded, while narrowing his sight on his host, before crossing his arms in front of his chest and elevating his chin in the air as a confrontation gesture. "What exactly is the "Kitsune" species, some kind of mutation between a werewolf and a vampire?"

"I'm not a common man, my friend. I would go as far as telling you that I could easily become your worst nightmare if you would think of becoming my worst enemy one day. As for my species, all in good time, Klaus…All in good time," Shinichi said, while approaching the hybrid, and drowning his sight in Klaus's. "So, what will it be, will I count you as a friend or an enemy?"

"You already know the answer to that question; I don't play nice when I'm abducted against my will. But, because I am willing to give you the chance to let me go before ripping your body into thousands of pieces of flesh, we could forget that this meeting ever happen. Don't say after that I am not willing to be considerate, my dear Karate Kid!" Klaus responded, while smirking at him.

"How refreshing, I love your sense of humour, my dear friend." Shinichi exclaimed, with laughter in his voice. "Come, follow me! I would like to show you something." He added, with a hand gesture to follow him out of the office, while pushing a secret passage in one of the office walls.

Klaus stood motionless, closed fists near his body. He would have reacted sooner if only Caroline haven't been held hostage, somewhere, in this building, by this Japanese man named Shinichi. But, without knowing where she was, and if she was safe, he needed to control his temper instead of snapping the neck of their jailer.

Shinichi turned himself to take a look at Klaus, while smirking and adding.

"There are at least ten guards posted behind the door of this office, you would not have the slimmest chance to escape without my authorization to let you pass."

Klaus sighed with anger, before taking a few walking steps to follow Shinichi into the hidden corridor.

"What is you purpose in this orchestrated theatrical play, mate? Revenge on my family?" Klaus asked, while staring at Shinichi's back.

"Like I've told you, Klaus, all will be revealed in good time. Such eagerness in an Original hybrid of a thousand of years, you are surprising me, more and more with time passing by." Shinichi acknowledge.

"Where's Caroline?" Klaus enquired, while feeling his muscles tensing.

"The beautiful Caroline is enjoying a peaceful moment; no harm will be done to her. You have my word, Klaus." Shinichi swore.

"You word is nothing to me!" Klaus mumbled, angrily, between his teeth.

"Perhaps, but it is the only thing that I can give to you, at this present moment." Shinichi replied, before pushing a glass panel in front of his sight. "I was eager to show you one of my passions. The one I enjoy the most, my friend." He added, while inviting Klaus to enter a rounded room, with wall to wall, showcases.

"I could easily show you one of my passions, also…Mine is to kill enemies! And most of the times, I even enjoy it!" Klaus responded, tit for tat, while narrowing his sight on Shinichi, who busted into laughter.

"Always so quick on your feet, Klaus, we can actually count this as something that you have in common with your brother." Shinichi answered, while smirking, before turning to present a showcase to Klaus. "I specifically build this rounded room to remove the negative effect of the pointed objects, Fen-Shui can help, I guess." He explained, while crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Klaus scattered the room rapidly, while blenching under his discovery. Behind the one inch thick glass, a collection display of swords, daggers and knifes.

"This specific one…" Shinichi paused, while pointing a sword to Klaus. "Was one of the pair of swords that belonged to the well-known Samurai Musashi, who was born in 1584. He was an expert in handling two swords in combat."

"Did you say: one of the pair?' Klaus repeated, in a condescending tone of voice. "I'm surprised you were not able to obtain the other sword? A man of your prestige…Was it a lack of persuasion, not able to abduct the owner, or he was simply too difficult to kill?"

"A little bit of everything." Shinichi replied, smirking. "But you see my friend, when you live for an eternity, like you and I, why rushing a perfect game? The hunter enjoys watching his prey, studying very carefully every of its move, its weakness, and then the chase begins. But, after the chase, the fun is over. Let just say that I've enjoyed studying the weakness, the most." Shinichi replied, winking at Klaus, who knew with certainty that the last sentence was directed at him and his family.

Shinichi crossed both of his hands behind his back, while taking a few walking steps, before pointing a black velvet support that was empty.

"This is for my newest addition; I did not have the time to put the dagger on its support yet." He announced proudly to Klaus.

Klaus closed his fists in anger, before positioning himself in front of the glass, while staring at the empty support. It was now obvious to him, that the new owner of the silver dagger and the killer of Alaric Saltzman, was actually the same man, and was standing by his side.

"Cut to the chase, what do you want from me, revenge?" Klaus asked, between his teeth, while fixating the empty support. "If you did not want something from me or my brother, you would have already killed me already."

"Today, my friend, I simply wanted to meet with you and your delightful friend, Miss Caroline Forbes, and to share one of my passions. Who can say what I'll want tomorrow?" Shinichi responded, with a devious smile blessing his lips.

Klaus turned his head, slowly, before staring angrily into Shinichi's eyes.

"After all, who could say? Maybe one day we'll be fighting, against each other, with a sword in each hand, in a loyal combat." Shinichi added.

"I doubt there's anything loyal about you." Klaus responded.

Shinichi lost his smile in an instant, while raising his chin and drowning his dark eyes in Klaus's.

"Let's play a game, Klaus." Shinichi said, while walking slow steps around him.

"Who'll kill the other first?" Klaus responded to him, while following each of Shinichi's movements very carefully.

"Did you already forget what I've mention to you previously, my friend? We have eternity to play this game, why rush it?" Shinichi responded, while smirking. "Now, let's play another fun game: I'll give you ten minutes to find Mrs. Caroline Forbes, and leave my headquarters, or, your life and the one of your delightful friend could be in danger. What do you think? Could this game be to your satisfactory?" He inquired, before looking at his watch, while starting his chronometer and adding. "The game is starting right now!"

"You're bluffing?" Klaus said, doubtful.

"And you're willing to bet the vampire life of your beautiful friend on this? Such a shame, I wanted to meet her again…Oh well, my lost then…9 minutes 32 seconds." Shinichi counted.

Klaus turned on his heels, before running into the corridor with his vampire speed.

* * *

Caroline paced back and forth in the flowers garden, while rubbing her hands nervously. Something about this lunch meeting with this Arian Satō seemed strange to her. And now that she had been waiting for what seemed to be an eternity for him to return, she could feel in her guts that something was definitely not adding up.

What happened next took her by surprise; two strong arms grabbed her from behind, with a hand covering her mouth, forbidding her to scream, while dragging her away from the garden.

In the time space of seconds, she was standing in the middle of a corridor, before being pushed into the service stairs.

"Shhh, It's o.k. it's me, Caroline!" Klaus murmured into her ears, before facing her.

"What…What is going on?" Caroline asked him, in state of shock, while grabbing his forearms.

"Listen to me!" He ordered, while grabbing her shoulders. "We're in danger; we need to evacuate this building as quickly as possible. We'll take the service stairs to reach the lobby, and we'll keep running with our speed as fast as we can toward the hotel, do you understand?"

Caroline locked her eyes with Klaus's, while shaking her head in approval.

"We'll run in our vampire speed in front of the public eyes, but why?" She asked, with a trace of anxiety in her voice.

"We don't have time for chit-chat, Love. Just…Don't let go of my hand, ok?" He responded, evasively, while watching the screen of his wristwatch, before handing his left hand to her. "Do you understand me?"

Caroline nodded her head in approval, before sliding her shaking hand in Klaus's, and squeezing hard.

* * *

The descent to the ground floor by the service stairs was actually easier than expected. They rushed toward the revolving doors, while escaping the glass prison, in a matter of a few seconds.

They ran for several minutes, with their vampire speed, along several busy streets. Klaus suddenly stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, while scattering quickly the two sides of this corporate busy street of Tokyo, before passing a hand through his tangled hair. They were in luck; it was the lunch hour, hundreds of people were walking rapidly, with only one thing in their minds, to reach their final destinations.

Klaus pulled Caroline into a dark alley, between two restaurants, while suddenly stopping their vampire pace and holding her immobile in the comfort of his arms, with all his vampire senses in alert. He rapidly scattered both sides of the alley, and noticed several motorcyclists, all dressed in black, with a Japanese combat sign of two swords, on their helmets.

"They are men of Shinichi." Klaus informed her in a low murmur, while counting seven of them; they were standing immobile, on their motorcycles, with their dark glances directed at them.

"Who's Shinichi?" Caroline asked, dumbfounded, while turning her head and noticing the dark figures.

"I don't have time to explain all of this to you now, Love. We need to run!" Klaus ordered.

"Oh, no… Don't you dare give me that attitude of the Alpha man! I've said yes to an agreement of seven dates, I never agreed to put my life in danger, I deserve to hear the truth, Klaus?" She asked the hybrid.

"Look at me, Caroline!" Klaus busted, while grabbing her shoulders. "We need to run; there is no time to have a chat!"

"No! I won't continue running until you explain to me what is going on?" She responded, before suddenly feeling dizzy, and grabbing Klaus's forearms to help her stand on her legs. "I… I don't feel well…" She stammered, while closing her eyes.

"Caroline?" He called her name, while taking her chin in his right hand, before looking into her eyes. "Caroline? Stay with me!" He added, while gently slapping both of her cheeks. "Love, what did he give you to drink? Arian Satō, what did he give you? Answer me?" He yelled.

Caroline heard his voice threw her blurry mind, while feeling herself slipping slowly into unconsciousness, before opening her eyes, and trying to stay focus for a bit longer.

"I don't …. I don't remember … Tea…I drank tea…" She managed to answer, before fainting into Klaus's arms.

"Caroline!" Klaus yelled, while rapidly sliding his hands underneath her knees, and taking her in his arms. "If he injured you in any way, I swear, he won't live to see another day!" He mumbled, angrily, between his teeth, while hearing the engines sound of the motorcycles, before seeing the dark figures reaching them in full speed. He held Caroline close to his chest and heart, while kissing her forehead, before running, in his vampire speed, as fast as he could.

* * *

"We did what?" Matt asked Rebekah, in total shock, while still standing in the middle of the entrance of the Mikaelson's Manor.

"Forget what I've said, Matt. I don't know why I've said that in the first place." She mumbled, nervously, to him, while blushing and lowering her sight away from his.

"Forget about it?" Matt exclaimed, while grabbing Rebekah's shoulders to make her face him. "You just told me that we made love. How do you want me to forget about that, Rebekah?" He added, while shaking his head in disbelief.

"I…I just…I know that it was a casual thing…So, I don't want you to feel obligated toward me." She replied, while nervously rubbing her hands together. _**Rebekah, you've just put yourself in real trouble with this lie!**_ She thought in her mind.

"A casual thing, you say?" Matt repeated, a dumbfounded expression plastered on his face. "I don't do casual thing, Rebekah, and I doubt that it was anything but casual between us." He added, while passing a hand through his hair, before pacing back and forth in front of her sight. "So, when did we do this casual thing, at the lake? We were rolling on the ground like animal?" He asked, while shrugging his shoulders.

"Well, like I've said to you Matt, it was something that happened in the moment. You don't need to fuss over it, we needed to feel good, we were lonely, and we took this opportunity to make each other feel better." She mumbled, between her teeth, while avoiding raising her sight in his.

"Then what happened? We shook hands and decided to double date in the wood with Caroline and your bother?" Matt commented, sarcastically.

"Not exactly...They had car trouble, and you'd decided, without knowing that it was them, to check it out. You were worrying about random people being stuck on a deserted route at night." Rebekah explained, briefly. "But, it's in the past now, don't think about it."

"Don't think about it?" Matt repeated in shock, before exclaiming. "You've just told me that I was compelled by one of my best friend to forget the events of a specific night, and if that was not enough, a night when we made love for the first time!"

"Thinking about it now, I would not say we made love, it was more like we made wild sex in nature." She responded to him, while lowering her flushed cheeks. What could have possessed her to lie to him?

"We made what?" Matt inquired, in shock. "So, it was that bad then?" He asked.

_**How am I supposed to know how it was, it never happened!**_ Rebekah thought in her mind.

"I've never said that it was bad, so why would you say it yourself?" She replied, while pointing a finger toward Matt.

"Well, I don't know, Rebekah, could it be because I don't remember a fucking thing about that night!" Matt exclaimed, before adding. "And it must have been bad for you to say that we had sex without even an ounce of feelings in your tone of voice." Matt explained, furthermore. "Maybe you want to forget about it?"

"What? No, of course not! I don't want to forget about it." She replied, while putting her hands on each side of her waist. How could she forget about something that had never occurred to begin with? "I am trying to help you feel…Feel…" She tried to explain.

"Feel what, Rebekah? Make me feel better? If this is what you're trying to do…You have certainly a weird way of showing it to me!" Matt busted in her face.

"You know what, Matt?" She replied, while shaking her head. "Maybe it's you who don't want to have feelings toward the event? Maybe you're happy that you are not remembering anything specific about that night?" She added, while turning on her heels, before climbing the stairs, and disappearing into the second floor of the Manor.

Matt stood immobile in the main entrance, with a shock expression on his face.

"How can she do this to me every damn time?" He mumbled to himself, while shrugging his shoulders in disbelief.

* * *

A warm rain fell suddenly from the Tokyo sky, mixed with a spicy/flowery scent in the air. Klaus had managed to lose their assailants, while directing his running pace toward the crowd of the fruits and flowers outdoor opened markets.

"Mm….Rain…" Caroline mumbled, incoherently, in his arms.

Klaus lowered his sight, while tightening his arms around the young woman.

"Caroline, you're awake? Stay with me, my love! You hear me, stay awake!" He asked, while sweet kissing her forehead.

"It smells good." She whispered, before losing consciousness once more.

"Caroline? Caroline!" He repeated her name, before scattering the opened markets one more time and taking off toward their hotel that was located a couple of streets away.

* * *

Their personal butler opened the Penthouse doors, while letting Klaus carrying Caroline in his arms toward the bedroom suite.

"私はすぐに、血液バッグを必要とする"- "I need a blood bag, quickly!" Klaus shouted in Japanese to the butler, while gently placing her body on the silk bedspread. "Caroline, please come back to me, Love?" He whispered, tenderly, to her, while caressing her hair and cheeks, before pacing, back and forth, in front of the bed.

The butler came back with several blood bags hidden in a fabric bag, before handing one to Klaus.

"今すぐお任せください！"- "Now leave!" He ordered the Japanese man, before tearing the blood bag with his teeth, raising the upper body of Caroline in his arms, and bringing the red elixir to her mouth.

Caroline leaped in her unconsciousness, while slowly opening her eyes. She drank the thick, rich, red substance, before spitting out the blood, while coughing.

"I don't want it!" She mumbled, to Klaus, while pushing his hands, and starting to twitch in his arms. "I'm cold…I'm so cold…What is happening to me?" She asked, while trying to get rid of her wet clothes. "Arian…Where's Arian?" She called, obviously delusional.

Klaus closed his fists in anger at her saying. That man would pay of his blood – That was a promise that he was making to himself. He raised his hand on her forehead while feeling that her skin was as cold as ice under his fingers, and her complexion as white as snow.

"You're losing life inside of you; Love. How is it even possible?" He questioned himself, while getting back on his feet, before getting rid of his wet clothes: jacket, long sleeves t-shirt, jeans, boot. He threw them on the floor a second later, while standing chest naked, with only black boxer, as only clothe.

He lowered his upper body, while sliding his hands under her knees and on the crucible of her back, before rising Caroline in his arms and walking toward the bathroom. He held her body in a standing position, her back pushed on the tiles, while passing her clothes over her head, and throwing them on the floor a second later, before sliding his hands on her rounded hips, lowering the zipper of her jeans, while slowly pushing the wet fabric on her feet, leaving Caroline on her underwear in front of his sight. She mumbled incoherent sounds, while turning her head alternatively from left to right, and vice-versa, her lips turning the color of deep blue.

"I'm so cold…" She whispered, while closing her eyes again, slowly drifting into unconsciousness again.

"I know my love; I'll bring you back to life. I can't lose you now…You need to stay awake." Klaus responded, while rubbing the length of her arms, to bring back her vampire life into her.

He opened the door of the glass shower, before opening the hot water faucet, and bringing a semi-conscious Caroline under the water, with one arm placed around her waist, while the other hand was holding her head. He pushed her back on the glass wall, while slowly feeling the healing steam of the water wrapping them of its heat.

"Open your eyes for me, Caroline; come back to me, Sweetheart." He begged of her, while continuing to rub her body, his fingers sliding from the roundness of her breasts, to her thin waist, while rubbing her belly in slow motions, before sliding on her hips and thighs.

"It feels so good, but… But, I want to sleep." She mumbled, while moaning sounds of pleasure. She slowly re-opened her eyes under her blurred vision, with her hands rising on his muscular chest, while grabbing the top of his shoulders.

"No, Caroline, you can't fall asleep, sweetheart, you hear me?" He ordered, while grabbing her chin to raise her head and drowning his sight in hers, before noticing the pink color back in her cheeks. "Stay focus, Caroline…Feel my hands on you, feel the life coming back in your body, the heat between us, that is consuming your entire self…Forget about Arian Satō, I'm the one in your system...I'm the one that flowing into your veins, intoxicating your all being."

"Yes." She whispered, before lowering her head on his shoulders, while feeling an intense wave of heat wrapping her body. Klaus's right hand caressed her lower back, with his chin placed on top of her head, his left hand caressing her hair, while slowly pulling her body under the shower head, water now running fluently on their bodies. "It feels good." She whispered, her lips hydrated by the drops of water that were streaming on Klaus's chest, drinking them while sliding her mouth on his skin, with her hands caressing the muscles in his back.

"Caroline." Klaus softly whisper her name, while closing his eyes to stay focus on the task at hands, his entire body tensed to the extreme of his tolerance. He was finally holding her body, in his arms. "You can't do this…We can't do this." He murmured, incoherently, while cupping her face in his hands, his sight locked in hers, before sliding his eyes on her body, on her wet underwear leaving no room for his imagination. "You're so beautiful, I need to control myself." He murmured to himself, while trying to get a grip on his desire.

"Kiss me?" She asked, in a semi-state of awareness.

"Caroline…Don't…." He murmured, while lowering his head, his lips almost touching hers. "We can't do this now; Love, even if I want to make you mine more than you could ever imagine.

Caroline raised her arms around his neck, while sliding her trembling lips on his. Klaus moaned with pleasure, slowly responding to her kiss, while sliding his hands on her bottom, under the elastic of her lace panties, before pushing her back on the glass wall, deepening his kiss by sliding his tongue in the wetness of her mouth.

"No, we can't!" Klaus mumbled, angrily, between his teeth, before detaching his lips from hers, his hands now placed, on the glass wall, on each side of her head, while controlling the intense physical desire he had to make Caroline his. "Relax, Caroline…Relax, you'll feel better soon." He tried to calm her, while raising his head to take a glimpse at her.

Caroline closed her eyes, while feeling life emerging back into her veins, in intense waves of energy, the energy of the Alpha Man. She finally remembered the previous events of the day: her meeting with Arian, their intense exchange, the Jasmine tea, the escape with Klaus into the streets of Tokyo, fainting in his arms…

"Oh" She exclaimed, while grabbing his arms and reopening her eyes, suddenly regaining her normal state of mind, before blushing intensively at the half naked sight of Klaus's body.

"You're back!" Klaus noticed, while smiling, and caressing her hair. "How do you feel, Love?"

"A bit dizzy, but I'm ok. What happened?" She asked, before noticing that she was standing in the shower, with her wet underwear glued to her body, like a second skin.

"Arian Satō drugged you, Caroline." Klaus explained to her, while closing his fists in anger, before adding. "I had the fright of my life; I thought I was losing you for good this time, Love."

"I just have one last question." She said, while drowning her sight in Klaus's.

"You can ask me anything, sweetheart." He responded, while caressing her cheeks with the back of his right hand.

"Why am I standing half- naked in the shower with your presence?" Caroline asked, while arching one of her eyebrows.

* * *

In the dumbest things that Rebekah had done in her vampire life, this one would certainly win the gold medal, she thought while lying in her bed. The only solution she had found in her head to not make the situation worse, and this after the realization of her huge lie to Matt, had been to leave him alone in the downstairs entrance, while praying that he had left the Manor. But it was obviously a wishful thinking of her part.

Her bedroom door creaked while being pushed open, with the sudden appearance of Matt under its arch.

"How many bedrooms are there in this Manor?" Matt asked the Original, while taking a few walking steps to reach her lying position on the bed.

"There are fifteen bedrooms in the manor." She responded, evasively, to the young man.

"Well, then I saw all of them before finding yours." He replied, with a timid smile on his lips.

"It's the down side of having money I guess." She responded, while smiling back at him.

"Can I lie beside you?" He asked, making her startled with surprise at his request.

"Sure." She answered, while shrugging her shoulders, falsely indifferent.

Matt lay down beside Rebekah, before smiling, and turning on his side to face her.

"I'm sorry." Matt presented his apology.

Rebekah swallowed a small lump in her throat, before locking her sight with his.

"What are you sorry for, Matt?" She asked him, while shaking her head. "You've been compelled, lied to, badly treated by me and others and you're sorry? Are you a saint or what? Because I'm not used to have an angel by my side…You see my brothers are anything but saint…And frankly, I don't know how to react when I am with you." She tried to explain to him.

Matt's smile spread on his lips. He raised his right hand, to caress her cheeks.

"I'm sorry because I did not think for a second that forgetting a moment between us could make you doubt yourself." He explained to her, before adding. "And I remembered that you brought me to the lake, today, because you told me that you were mad that a moment had been stolen from you….I had no idea, Rebekah, that behind your "I don't give a damn" exterior, you were more sensitive than what people give you credit for." He added, while sliding strands of hair behind her left ear.

_**Oh crap!**_ Rebekah thought, while closing her eyes, this was getting out of hands now.

"It's ok." She mumbled, while lowering her flushed cheeks, before shrugging her shoulders.

Matt lowered his hand on her mouth, while caressing her lips with his thumb, before sliding his body near hers.

"I wanted you, I always wanted you." He confessed to her. "Even if we are on opposite team, you always caught my eyes. You're beautiful, intelligent, full of life, and sexy as hell." He confessed, shyly. "And if it was not for Caroline's compulsion on me, I could never imagine forgetting about making love to you…Just the thought of it is making my knees shake." He added while blushing.

Rebekah sighed, while feeling tears filling her eyes. She had never heard these words from a man's mouth before. Just for that fact, she needed to tell him the truth, at the risk of losing him forever.

"Matt, I don't know what to say…I'm sorry, you need to listen to me…I …" She stammered.

"Shh…." He responded, while placing a finger on her lips to silence her.

He grabbed her chin, while raising her head and drowning his sight in hers, before lowering his lips on Rebekah's to kiss her deeply. She reacted by moaning sounds of pleasure, while sliding her left hand at the base of his neck, before caressing his hair.

"I just want to hold you in my arms." He murmured while detaching his lips from hers, before pulling Rebekah in his arms, kissing the top of her head and closing his eyes.

* * *

Klaus was standing in front of the opened terrace door, of his lightless master bedroom, with his right forearm elevated on the arch, while looking at the night sky and slowly gulping a glass of Whisky. He had dressed himself with a dark grey jean, bare chest and feet, with his curly hair still wet from the shower. They both had parted in their respective bedroom, after the awkwardness of the shower scene.

He suddenly felt the presence of Caroline behind him, standing over the threshold in the darkness of the room. He turned on himself, while swallowing a lump in his throat. She was wearing a long t-shirt, with her long bare legs offered to his sight, and her wet hair falling on her shoulders, in a cascade of blond curls. She reached his standing position, while grabbing his glass of Whisky from his hands, before gulping the rest of it, and handing it back to him.

"Thanks, I needed that..." She gave this simple explanation, while nicely surprising him. "Especially, after being drugged by this Arian Satō guy, I hope of never meeting him again."

"Are you feeling better?" The hybrid asked her. "Did you drink your blood bag?"

"Yes, I drank it, and, I'm ok." She responded, while nodding her head.

"You should rest. We'll take the jet back to Mystic Falls, tomorrow morning." He informed her.

"It's fine by me." She agreed, while turning on herself to reach the corridor that was leading to her own bedroom, before whispering. "Good night."

"Good night, Caroline." He greeted himself, while seeing her disappear from his sight, before throwing his glass, with anger, on the terrace cement, before breaking it into pieces. "Damn it!" He exclaimed, while pacing back and forth in the middle of the room. Elijah had warned him that he would put Caroline in danger, and that is exactly what had happened. And the worst thing was that he couldn't explain to her that Shinichi had the silver dagger in his possession. He trusted her, but he couldn't trust the others. Even, if he had vaguely explained to her, that Shinichi and Arian Satō, was the same person.

He reached the bed, before lying on top of the bedspread, his right forearm tucked underneath his head, while fixating the shadows of light reflecting on the ceiling. That Shinichi man would not give up so easily, it was the kind of individual that would fight until death to obtain what he wanted, and Klaus was not even certain what it was exactly: The extermination of the vampire specie? Revenge on his family? Caroline? He needed to speak to Elijah and clarify with him what had happened in the past between him and the Japanese man?

He closed his eyes, while sighing, and trying to rest his mind for a short moment, before sensing Caroline presence back in the bedroom. He opened his eyes, noticing that she was standing at the foot of the bed, while nervously rubbing her hands together. He straightened his upper body in a sitting position, while fixating his sight on her.

"I'm scare." She confessed to him.

"Come…" He suggested.

"I don't think I should." She responded, while locking her eyes with his. "I was already half naked with you in the shower, I think it's enough playing with fire for one day."

"But, you wanted to be in my arms, Caroline, and you've enjoyed our time in the shower." He added, while smirking, and handing his open palm invitation to her. "I won't bite, and I won't try anything that you don't want me to do, without your permission." He swore to her.

She slowly grabbed his hand, while feeling his fingers closing on hers, before being pulled in a sitting position at his side. Their eyes met, and he suddenly wrapped his left arm around her shoulders, before lowering their bodies in a lying position on the bed. She rested her head on his bare chest, with her left hand sliding on his tone skin, in an almost unbearable caress, making him close his eyes to control his desire for her. He tightened his left arm around her shoulders, sliding his right hand in her soft curls, while playing with a strand of hair around his fingers.

"It seems you're still shivering, are you're still cold?" He asked, in a worrying tone of voice, while lowering his sight at her.

"No, I'm fine." She responded, before adding. "Klaus?"

"Yes, Love?" He asked Caroline, while kissing the top of her forehead.

"You safe my life today..." She admitted, before adding. "Thank you for that."

"You're welcome." He responded, while taking her chin in his right hand, before raising her head to drown his eyes into hers. "I will always protect you, Caroline, never forget that." He added as a promise.

"I know." She whispered, while nodding her head and keeping her sight locked in his. "But, why would you?" She asked, while shrugging her shoulders.

"You're still asking that question?" He asked, in shock, while letting a laughing sound out of his mouth. "I'm crazy about you; Caroline. I want all of you: body, mind, soul…I want you to be mine, I don't know how you can still doubt that?"

Caroline blushed while lowering her sight away from his. He took her left hand in his right, before interlacing his fingers with hers.

"I love Tyler." She confessed to him.

"Yes, you love him…I believe you do in a certain way…" Klaus responded to her, before adding. "But, you're falling for me, Love…And you know it."

"Pff" She complained, while rolling her eyes to the ceiling, and adding. "You're so full of yourself; you know that? It's not because I was standing half-naked in the shower, while regaining consciousness with your help if I may add, that I want to jump your bones."

"And yet, you're lying in my bed, half-naked, in my arms, once again." He responded, while smirking at her.

She growled in anger, before rising in a sitting position, while trying to get away from him. He retained her with a firm grip on her right arm, while making her body roll on the bedspread, before lying in top of her, her wrists held in a firm grip of his left hand, above her head.

"Let go of me!" She ordered, while squirming underneath him.

"No!" He replied, while laughing, and lowering his head to kiss the tender part of her right shoulder, his right hand raising on the length of her legs, up to the inside of thighs.

"Klaus…" She whispered, while closing her eyes, in an ambivalent state of mind. "I'm feeling dizzy; it must be the side effect of the drug." She lied to him.

"My sweet liar…" Klaus smirked, while sliding his lips on the right side of her neck. "If you were feeling dizzy, it is for another reason, and you know it." He added, while raising his head, before drowning his sight in Caroline's and lowering his lips on hers. "Don't I deserve a kiss for my heroic rescue?" He asked her, while raising one of his eyebrows.

"Seriously…You won't let me go until I say yes, won't you?" She asked him.

"That's my obedient girl." He nodded, while smiling, and slowly lowering his lips on her.

Caroline closed her eyes, while feeling the softness of his mouth on hers. He firstly nibbled on the corners of her lips, before sliding the tip of his tongue on their lengths, making her moan sounds of pleasure, while feeling her wrists being released from his hand grip.

She lowered her hands on his bare chest, before sliding them upward, to his neck, in his golden curls, while timidly sliding her tongue in his mouth. The kiss in the shower had awakened a thirst for the hybrid that she had no idea existed in her soul before. He moaned sounds of pleasure, before interlacing his tongue with her, in a lover erotic dance, his hands sliding under her t-shirts, while raising the fabric on her chest.

"Mm…" She protested the sound, before detaching her lips from his, while trying to push Klaus away from her body. "You said one kiss; you did not mention any foreplay."

Klaus sighed loudly, while closing his eyes and calming his raging desire for the young vampire, with the painful reminder, hard as a rock, between his legs.

"Ok, I did." He said, while letting his body fell back on the pillow, beside Caroline's laying position on the bed, his forearm placed over his eyes.

"I'm sorry…" She whispered, while blushing at the physical sight of his desire for her.

"I'll live!" He mumbled, angrily, between his teeth.

"I don't want to sleep alone tonight." She admitted, while swallowing a lump in her throat. "But, I don't want to…You know?" She added, before lowering her flushed cheeks and turning her body on the side, showing her back to him, while sliding her hand underneath the pillow.

Klaus raised his forearm away from his eyes, before turning on his side and spooning with her body, while sliding his arms around her waist.

"You won't sleep alone, Caroline…You'll be safe in my arms, the all night…I promise you." He whispered in her right ear, while tightening his arms around her.

"He scared me, Klaus." She confessed her fear. "Shinichi, Arian Satō, whatever his name is…He scared me."

"He won't harm you in anyway in the future; I'll make sure of that, Love." He gave his words to her.

"What does he want? Do you know?" She asked him, before adding. "Why did he hurt me that way?"

"You were only a collateral damage for him. He wanted to hurt me, as a revenge on Elijah." He tried to explain to her. "You need to sleep now; we'll take the plane early in the morning, and you'll leave Tokyo for good. Try not to dream of me." He mocked, gently, while smirking, and kissing the top of her head.

"You are still thinking too much of yourself…Not a chance!" She responded, before falling asleep, with a smile on her lips, while drifting into a dream with the hybrid and hot steamy water.

* * *

The wooded office doors of Arian Satō opened in a big "bang" noise, while letting Elijah Mikaelson walk over the threshold, before raising his right hand to his mouth, while passing a handkerchief on his bottom lip that was dripping with blood.

"You know, your guards tasted quite delicious." Elijah admitted, perniciously, to Shinichi, while approaching the man sitting position behind the desk.

"Elijah Mikaelson!" Shinichi exclaimed, while smirking, and hitting his golden pen on its desktop. "I was expecting you, my old friend."

"Funny, I was expecting to never see you again, Shinichi…And a new name: Arian Satō? How corporate of you…I was still hoping that you would have been really dead this time. But then again, the fact that no one ever found your dead body in the Egyptian, Nil river, centuries ago, was always in the back of my mind." Elijah explained to him, while folding the soiled handkerchief, tilting his head to the left, and narrowing his sight at him.

"My bad my friend, I have forgotten to send you a Christmas card every year, since this unfortunate incident. How could you have known?" Shinichi responded, sarcastically, while rising on his feet, and approaching the bar placed behind the wall panel. "Can I offer you something to drink?"

"You want to offer me Jasmine tea perhaps?" Elijah asked, while keeping his gaze on his enemy.

Shinichi smirked, before pouring a glass of Sake.

"How's the delightful Caroline Forbes, by the way?" He asked Elijah.

"She's alive, no thanks to you!" Elijah responded, dryly.

"Well, I am quite happy to hear that news, I appreciated her quite a lot. I hope to actually see that delightful young woman again, very soon." He thought out loud, while gulping his Sake, before being projected on the opposite wall, with Elijah's right forearm placed on his throat, chocking the air out of his host' lungs.

"Let me make this very clearly for you, Shinichi." Elijah warned, while bending his head at a near inch of his. "You'll leave Caroline Forbes and my family alone, or this could end, once again, in a bath of blood!"

"You seem to forget something very important, Elijah. I hold the ultimate weapon in my posession now, therefore, I could easily make you, your entire family, and all your line of vampires, disappear. Don't ever forget that!" Shinichi mumbled, angrily, between his teeth, while coughing, and sighing small breaths of air into his lungs.

"Oh, I did not forget that part. But I am not a coward, Shinichi, if I battle in a war, I battle while being an honest adversary, I can't say the same of yourself!" Elijah shouted into the man's face.

"If killing my sister is what you are calling being honest, maybe I should repay the courtesy by killing your own. Rebekah is being watched by my men as we speak. I don't think that you want her blood on your hands, or am I mistaking?" Shinichi lashed out at Elijah.

Elijah growled, before letting go of his grip on Shinichi's throat, releasing him of his firm hold. The Japanese man lowered his upper body, before coughing several times.

"I never meant to kill, Misao." Elijah murmured, while passing a nervous hand through his hair.

"But she is still dead!" Shinichi busted angrily into Elijah's face, while reaching his standing position. "And she died while giving her heart and her entire loyalty to you!"

"It was an accident." Elijah murmured, while closing his fists in anger, and lowering his head.

"And yet, my twin sister will never be by my side again." Shinichi responded, shyly.

Elijah sighed several times, while putting his hands on each side of his waist.

"So, what will your game be this time, Shinichi?" He asked, while turning his head and staring into his host's eyes.

"No game, my friend. Not for the time being." Shinichi answered him, while turning on himself, and taking his sitting position back behind his desk. "It was a pleasure seeing you again, Elijah. We'll meet again very soon." He added, before grabbing a file on his desk and starting to read a business report.

Elijah stared at Shinichi for a few additional minutes, before turning on his heels, walking toward the exit, and slamming the door behind him.

* * *

Shinichi, now named Arian Satō, was standing, his hands buried in his pants pockets, in front of the office panoramic window, while scattering the city of Tokyo, offered, in its splendour, in front of his sight. The strident sound of stilettos banging the marble floor resounded in his ears, while starling him.

"Elijah was here?" A woman voice addressed him.

"He was indeed present." Shinichi answered the young woman, before turning on himself and addressing to her a smile. "And, he is still very much in turmoil over you death." He explained to a tall, young, and very beautiful, Japanese woman. A long strand of black hair strategically placed to hide a very deep and long scar, over the delicate features of the right side of her face.

"Good, the revenge will be more delightful that way." Misao replied to her brother, while smiling devilishly.


	9. In the shadow of the full moon

Not once, but twice in the same day, Elijah had to rekindle a part of his past in a time space of a few hours. A part, which he had certainly prayed and wished to forget for eternity, but the urgency of the moment, obliged him to put aside his pride and work in team with his brother and the vampires of Mystic Falls. Their specie was in danger, even more in danger than when their mother had decided to exterminate the fruits of her womb: Her children!

It was now his duty to explain to them a part of ancient history that he thought was buried in ashes forever: _**The Seven Treasures of the seven Kitsunes.**_

* * *

Klaus was pacing, back and forth in front of the fire mantle, while glancing, from time to time, at his brother, before suddenly bursting all his anger at Elijah.

"Will you finally explain all of this to me, or do I need to drag it out of your mouth, Elijah?" Klaus asked, while passing a hand though his tangled hair.

Elijah sighed, before placing both of his hands on each side of his waist, while closing his eyes for a short moment, before finding in himself the strength to answer his sibling.

"There's species that you've probably never heard before, we are not alone." Elijah replied, while lowering his head.

"You don't say, mate?" Klaus responded, falsely surprised. "I think I figured this out, the moment Caroline was abducted, and I was standing in front of an empty showcase, already prepared to expose our mother's lethal, silver dagger." He added. "Who's that fucking son of a bitch, Elijah? Who's that Shinichi character? And furthermore … What is he?"

"He is someone that you should never count as one of your enemy, Klaus." Elijah warned.

Klaus took a few walking steps to reach Elijah's standing position.

"The minute you had learned from me that Shinichi had in his possession our mother's dagger, you took the first flight to Tokyo, at the same time I was rushing out of the country to put miles of distance between that lunatic and myself, while bringing Caroline into safety. What is going on, Elijah?" Klaus asked, while narrowing his sight on him.

"I thought he was dead. I witnessed his death centuries ago, in Egypt, but always had my doubt that he could have survived the accident." Elijah replied to his brother. "As for the lovely Miss Forbes, I told you before Klaus, associating yourself with her will put the both of you in danger, especially in this present situation."

"And what situation are you talking about, Elijah?" Klaus inquired, with an arched eyebrow.

* * *

"Is this going to be like a weekly "Sunday brunch" gathering thing?" Damon asked Elijah, who was standing in front of the window, while entering the Parlour room of his house, before directing his walking steps toward the bar.

"Damon" Stefan warned, in annoyance, while crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Yes, brother of mine, what did I do now to make you lose your legendary reserved self?" Damon grinned, while taking a big gulp of his Bourbon glass.

Stefan sighed, while ignoring his brother, before passing a hand through his hair.

"So, who's missing: Witchy – Blondie - Bitchy - Matty?" Damon smirked, while giggling, and gulping the rest of the amber liquid.

Elena rolled her eyes at Damon, before staring at the eldest of the Originals, while approaching his standing position, before sliding a strand of her hair behind her right ear.

Elijah turned his sight toward Elena, while timidly smiling to her.

"I can feel that you're upset, something has happened since our last encounter and visit in here, Elijah, and it is telling me that it could be real bad?" She murmured, while staring into his dark eyes.

Elijah lowered his sight, while slowly rubbing his hands together.

"I'm here to tell the truth, Elena. Please, try to avoid judging me for my words, or my past actions." He asked of her.

"I don't know what to say?" She responded in shock of his sudden admission.

"You never need to say anything with me, Elena." He replied to her, before raising his right hand and brushing a strand of her hair, behind her shoulder, while making her blush, in front of the intense and angry gaze of Damon Salvatore.

"OK, I'm here, what is it this time, Elijah?" Rebekah asked, while entering the parlor room, before crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"I have new information, Rebekah." He informed, while drowning his sight in his sister's.

Rebekah blenched, while swallowing a lump in her throat. She knew her older brother too well, and the emptiness in his eyes could only be the prediction of bad news.

"Sorry for the late arrival, we were stuck in traffic, from school to here." Bonnie informed the present audience, while entering the room, with Matt on her footsteps.

Matt nodded his head, as a salutation to Stefan, before turning his sight toward Rebekah, while glancing at her more time than necessary. She kept her stare in his, before lowering her flushed cheeks and head. Not defeated by the blonde careless attitude, Matt approached her, before brushing the inside of her left forearm with one of his fingers.

"What are you doing?" She asked, in a murmur, while scattering the room to verify that not a single one of these idiots were watching them.

"I did not hear from you since we fell asleep in your bedroom?" Matt whispered near her left ear, while brushing the tip of his lips on her hair.

Rebekah startled at his question, while pushing her body away from his too close proximity.

"I was busy." She responded, evasively.

* * *

"Elijah? I'm not known as a patient man; you know this about me. I'm waiting for an answer." Klaus said, while frowning with anger.

"And that was the weakness that oftentimes has put you in danger, Klaus." Elijah responded to his brother, before crossing his arms in front of his chest. "You are too impulsive and impatient most of the time, and not enough at others."

"What is your connection with Shinichi?" Klaus required an answer from his brother, with his closed fists placed on each side of his tensed body.

* * *

"So grandpa, now that everybody is here, can we start?" Damon asked Elijah.

Elena scattered the parlor room, before shaking her head in disapproval.

"We can't…. Caroline isn't here." She noticed.

"Klaus will take care of informing Miss Caroline Forbes and Mister Tyler of the problem in hands." Elijah responded to Elena, without further explanation from his part.

"Oh, I bet that he will inform Caroline, above all." Damon smirked, while pouring himself another glass of Bourbon. "He's literally drooling over Barbie." He added, with laughter in his voice.

"Damon!" Elena warned him.

"What?" Damon responded, while shrugging his shoulders. "He's infatuated with her, like a lost puppy. He's following her every move."

"Elijah, I don't feel at ease with my friend Caroline being in contact with Klaus. Your brother is unstable and dangerous, and I'm sorry...But… If it was not for his blood linking him to all of my friends, and the silver dagger of your mother, we would have done our best to get rid of him." Elena confessed to him, while crossing her arms in front of her chest, and raising her chin toward him.

_**Elena, if only you knew what my brother wants from your vampire friend**_. Elijah thought in himself, while biting his bottom lip, before raising his sight in hers.

"Fair enough, Elena, I can't debate your dislike of my brother. But, I can assure you that in this matter, your friend is actually the safest in the proximity of my brother Klaus." Elijah replied, while nodding his head in reassurance.

They all startled in surprise, before staring at each other in complete astonishment.

"That is a very big assumption, Elijah that is making me think, with certainty that a bigger threat than Klaus is near us." Stefan brought his thoughts to the table, while crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"It's actually watching our every move, Stefan." Elijah replied, before adding. "An enemy wants to take down the entire vampire specie, and he won't back off until he'll succeed."

Damon dropped his glass on the bar, while narrowing his stare on Elijah, before taking a few walking steps to reach the eldest Original.

"Who's that new enemy?" Damon inquired, with a raised eyebrow.

"His professional name is **Arian Satō** , He's known as a rich and powerful business man, with his empire located in Tokyo." Elijah started explaining, as first input.

"Tokyo?" They all exclaimed in shock.

"What would a Japanese business man want with all of us, in the old Mystic Falls, U.S.A.?" Damon exclaimed, in complete shock.

"He had already obtained what he wanted, Damon." Elijah answered him.

"Oh yes? And what is that?" Damon responded, all snaky.

"The silver dagger created by my mother, the ultimate weapon to destroy the vampire specie." Elijah responded, to a jaw to the floor – speechless, Damon.

"What?" Stefan exclaimed, before adding. "Are you telling us that this Arian Satō is the one responsible for killing Alaric and that he has now the dagger in his possession?"

"Yes." Elijah nodded his head.

"And for what lunatic reason did he do that?" Damon busted in anger.

"Elijah?" Rebekah whispered his name, while swallowing a lump in her throat. "What does he want?"

Elijah raised his head, before drowning his sight in Rebekah's.

"He wants revenge, Rebekah." He replied to his sister and the present assembly.

* * *

"Revenge for what, Elijah?" Klaus asked, while crossing his arms over his chest, and placing himself at a near inch of his brother's face.

Elijah turned on himself, before taking a few walking steps toward the bay window, his sight lost into the sunrise.

" **Arian Satō** , whose true name is actually **Shinichi** , is one of the Seven Kitsunes of the Royal Guard who had the responsibility of protecting **Inari,** known as their divinity."

"What do you mean by: their divinity?" Klaus asked, while reaching his brother standing position.

"Yes, their God, their protector, the chief of their race...Whatever you want to call this entity." Elijah explained to Klaus.

"You said one of the Seven?" Klaus inquired, with a raised eyebrow, while crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Are you telling me that there are more lunatics like him in the world?"

"No, for what I know, he's the only survivor or his specie." Elijah reassured his brother.

"And who were the others?" Klaus asked Elijah.

* * *

"I know about them, Elijah!" Rebekah exclaimed, proudly, before adding. "I heard mother discussing this curse / legend, a short while after our transition as vampires."

"Did you say a curse legend?" Damon exclaimed, while rolling his eyes to the ceiling, and gesturing with his hands. "You got to be kidding me; I thought we were done with this shit, especially after the bogus curse of the moon and the sun!"

"Except that this time, this curse / legend is far from being bogus, Damon." Elijah responded to him, while shaking his head.

"And, don't stand there, tell us!?" Damon said to Rebekah, while shrugging his shoulders in annoyance.

"Seven children, forming the Royal Guard, were created by witches to protect **Inari** , and to balance the supernatural world. They would contribute into keeping the peace between the species, and more so between the werewolves and the vampires. But, the legend says that the Seven Children have become demoniac and started to live for their own goal of power." Rebekah started explaining.

"Did you say seven children? Like the seven dwarfs in White Snow?" Damon giggled.

Rebekah rolled her eyes in annoyance at Damon before sighing loudly and continuing.

"Their names were: **Akainu, Chihaki, Fumiaki, Kazuhiko, Misao, Rengu, and Shinichi**." Rebekah enumerated the names, before turning her sight toward her brother. "Are you telling me that this was not just a curse / legend after all?"

"They all existed, as much as we exist right this moment. "Elijah replied, while nodding his head to his sister. "But, the reality is far from being that simple." He added. "Their main goal was not to balance the supernatural world like the witches thought they would, it was to protect **The Seven Treasures of Inari**. – Each of the seven Kitsunes would be assigned to one of the treasures, as its eternal guard"

"Did you say: The Seven Treasures?" Bonnie repeated in astonishment, while tilting her head, and adding. "I remember reading about that in my Grimoire, something about the protection of the Seven Elements related to Seven Treasures that could not even be valued by human mind."

"Then, you'll know that what I am saying, is not bogus, my dear Bonnie, and that I did not lose my mind over a fairy tale." Elijah replied to her, with a smirk plastered on his face.

* * *

"What would happen to those seven treasures if one of the Kitsunes would die?" Klaus asked Elijah.

"The Kitsune would disintegrate into dust, and the treasure would be lost into the immensity of a third dimension." Elijah explained, while shrugging his shoulders.

"Come on, Elijah, what no sense is all of this!" Klaus broke in hysterical laughter.

"Klaus, it's a legend, and like any legend, all of it is explained in codes, and need to be unscrambled, you should know better, didn't you create a bogus curse yourself?" Elijah replied to his brother in annoyance, and a slight amused tone of voice.

* * *

"Did you have contact with all of these Kitsunes?" Damon asked Elijah.

"No, I was only in close contact with **Misao** and **Shinichi**. They were the last survivors of their Kitsune specie." Elijah replied to him.

"And what is exactly a Kitsune?" Matt asked Elijah, while shrugging his shoulder, before feeling all eyes staring at him. "What? It's not like we are not wondering the same question in all of our heads?"

Elijah stared at his sister, before nodding his head as approval, for her to continue.

"For what I could remember of the legend, they are foxes." She simply replied, while shrugging her shoulders, and wincing.

"They are what?" Stefan exclaimed, in shock, before raising a hand over his mouth, to hide his hilarity.

"You got to be kidding me! Like the fable of the Fox and the Raven. Ok, it was already a stretch that I would believe that werewolves existed, but this is beyond the worst bag of crap that I've ever heard!" Damon busted in anger.

"And yet, some still believe that vampires don't exist." Elijah replied, with a mocking tone of voice, to which Damon stuck his tongue out to him.

"So, what now... That Kitsune, Shinichi /Character, is he transforming at night, and search to feed on what exactly? What kind of predator is he?" Damon asked more.

"Apparently, he's a predator that steal silver dagger, before using it to destroy all of us." Stefan replied to his brother. "Therefore, he wants to be the only survivor of his specie that will rule the supernatural world, and revenge the deaths of his sisters and brothers. But, to do that, he needs to eliminate us, proving that they were the superior specie after all."

"Good ascertainment, Stefan. But, to answer Damon's question, they lived centuries with no need to transform themselves into their supernatural form, they used to function normally as humans." Elijah explained further more.

"But then..." Elena exclaimed, while staring at Elijah. "Why fearing them, or should I say, why fearing this Shinichi character, if he is a simple human?"

"I did not say that he could not transform anymore, I've said that _**he chose**_ to not transform as a fox, Elena." Elijah replied, before adding to a speechless crowd. "You need to fear him, because he's a human with the most evil magical power that you will ever meet in all your life, and there is no end to what he can do."

* * *

"Be smart like a fox." Klaus recited a proverb.

"Yes, and extremely smart he is." Elijah replied, before adding. "Never underestimating Shinichi, Klaus, it would be your first lethal mistake."

"So, let me get this story straight, a legend about treasures, a divinity who wanted to restore peace between species, but was in reality into it for his own selfish and diabolic reasons, and six Kitsunes who found their deaths, with only one survivor named Shinichi, who's really a fox with demonic powers, and who is now in our modern time, while taking the role of a successful, multi-millionaires business man." Klaus enumerated, while pacing back and forth, with both of his hands on each side of his waist, before suddenly holding his pace. "Furthermore, who apparently stole the silver dagger of our beloved mother, killed Alaric Saltzman to make his point clear to us, in hope to destroy the vampire specie in a near future, while trying to steal my mate from under my nose, did I miss something?" He added, while hitting his chest, with his close fist, in anger.

"You think that Caroline Forbes is your mate, really?" Elijah asked, surprised, while raising one of his eyebrows in surprise. "Is this your werewolf side who's speaking to you? Aren't you jumping the gun, Klaus? Last time I check she was in a relationship with Tyler Lockwood, who you so conveniently sired to obey you to open a free path for your game of seduction, or am I mistaking?" Elijah, while crossing his arms over his chest, and narrowing his sight on his brother.

"Mind you own business, Elijah." Klaus growled, before directing his walking steps toward the bar, and pouring himself a glass of Whisky.

"A bit early for a drink, don't you think?" Elijah wondered.

"What was your relation with Shinichi? Why does he have a grudge against our family?" Klaus went directly to the point.

"We are the Originals, Klaus, if he managed to kill us; he kills all the vampires who came from us. It's very simple actually." Elijah replied, while burying his hands in his pants pockets.

"It's more than that, I can feel it in my guts that it is more than a war between species, that his revenge was directed at you, at us: the Mikaelsons?" Klaus said, while gulping his glass.

Elijah lowered his head, while closing his eyes.

"What are you not telling me, Elijah?" Klaus asked more of his brother.

* * *

Bonnie grabbed her school bag, before pulling out from its inside pocket, her Grimoire. She grabbed the book, while sliding page after page, between her fingers, before holding a page opened, and reading.

"The Devil Tail: A predicament about a powerful Devil with "Seven Heads" tattooed on his back. This devil has the power of controlling human mind by putting his supernatural supremacy into the human world. Look at the drawing; it looks like a red fox tail with black tips... If this is accurate, then Shinichi would be one of the Seven Heads, one of the Kitsunes?"

Elijah approached Bonnie, before handing his right hand and asking:

"May I?"

"Please." She nodded, while handing her Grimoire to him.

Elijah studied the pages, while staring at the drawing.

"What does it say?" Stefan asked.

"That the supernatural and human worlds, as we know them today, would eventually come to an end, if the power of that demon is awaken one day." Elijah sighed.

"So, this Devil and this Shinichi could be considered, one of the same." Elena exclaimed in shock.

"My only hope for centuries was that he could have been dead." Elijah sighed, while nodding his head to her.

"How did you meet him in your past, Elijah?" Rebekah asked, mostly curious.

* * *

"I met Shinichi in Egypt, many centuries ago, Klaus. I was at that time on a crusade, in 1493 to be more precise." Elijah started explaining, while walking toward the sofa, before taking a sitting position, and holding his head in his hands.

"After Katerina had turned as a vampire, I remember that I'd lost all contact with you that specific year." Klaus responded, before taking a sitting position, on an arm chair, in front of his brother.

"I wonder why?" Elijah replied, to which Klaus shrugged his shoulders, indifferent. "Shinichi and I, we became friends rapidly. He taught me how to fight with a sword, he was an expert in this sort of Japanese combat, and we bounded over friendly competition, not that I could ever be of his calibre." Elijah explained to his brother.

"That explains his obsession with weapons like daggers, swords, and knifes." Klaus commented.

"Yes, Shinichi had two obsessions: swords and achieving his goal of becoming the one who would rule the world one day. I only learned, much later, of this second one." Elijah informed.

"Did he know what you were at that moment?" Klaus asked, in surprise.

"You mean a vampire? Yes, but the seven Kitsunes were acting pacifically at that moment. They were crusading, from one town to another town, like gypsies, entertaining the children of villages with magical tricks." Elijah explained to Klaus.

"But their main goal was to maintain equilibrium between species or did I misread you before?" Klaus enquired.

"Theoretically, yes, but in truth, they were only following the malefic spirit of Inari, and guarding the Seven Treasures, unaware that they were directing their malicious ambition toward their own deaths." Elijah explained furthermore.

"And in what way was that?" Klaus asked.

"To assure that the Kitsunes would never turned on the witches spirits who created them, and their divinity, Inari, they had attached to them the most lethal weapon that would lead them to their deaths if they were to become greedy, obsess by revenge, kill one of the species that they were supposed to protect, or turned on each other in hope to steal the totality of the Seven Treasures."

"What was the lethal weapon that would bring them to their death?" Klaus asked, suddenly very interested.

"There was attached to each of them, the reverse of their own treasure." Elijah explained.

"The reverse, I'm not sure that I follow you?" Klaus asked, dumfounded.

"Yes, attached to each of them, with each treasure, a sin." Elijah explained more.

"Do you mean the biblical Seven Sins?!" Klaus exclaimed, while jumping on his feet, before putting his hands on each side of his waist.

"Yes: "Luxuria", " **Lust** "; "Gula", " **Gluttony** "; "Avaritia", " **greed** "; "Acedia", " **sloth** "; "Ira", " **wrath** "; "Invidia", " **Envy** "; "Superbia", " **Pride** "." He enumerated.

"So, they would die by their own sin if they would turn their back on the reason of their existence?" Klaus concluded. "Did I get that right?"

"Yes, you did … It's exactly that." Elijah replied, while nodding his head.

"Six of them died, because they turned their back at the witches who created them?" Klaus asked.

"They in fact did, Klaus." Elijah responded to his brother. "Therefore, the species were unbalanced, and the human world in danger, and we would be doomed to become enemies or to die, but, it was not six, but five Kitsunes who firstly died." Elijah added, while blushing, and lowering his head.

"Shinichi was not left alone, then?" Klaus asked more, while taking back his sitting position.

"No, he was not, his sister, **Misao** was still by his side." Elijah told him.

"Then if her death was not created by her own Sin, what was it?" Klaus asked his brother.

"Me!" Elijah replied, to a speechless, Klaus.

* * *

"You?" Stefan repeated in shock.

"You killed her?" Rebekah exclaimed in shock.

"By inadvertence, yes, I did." Elijah replied, while lowering his head.

"But, they were supposed to be eternal, how did you managed that?" Matt asked, completely dumbfounded.

"Were you close to Misao?" Elena asked Elijah, while lowering her flushed cheeks.

"We were involved." Elijah replied, while avoiding Elena's stare. It was a part of his past that he would like to avoid discussing with her.

"In other words, you were banging the slut Kistune." Damon added, in a mocking tone of voice, before adding. "What was her sin, Lust?" Damon asked Elijah.

Elijah kept quiet, while lowering his sight.

"Oh my God, It was Lust!" Damon exclaimed, while crossing his arms in front of his chest, and smirking.

"Shut up, Damon!" Rebekah warned him.

"Make me!" Damon responded, while narrowing his sight on her.

Elena rose on her feet, before approaching Elijah, while crossing her arms in front of her chest:

"She chose you over and instead of her brother, and it caused her death, isn't it?" Elena asked him, before adding. "And Shinichi is seeking revenge on the curse and the vampires' specie for the loss of his siblings, and on you for killing his sister Misao?"

"Yes." Elijah confirmed to her, while locking his sight with hers.

"Shit, we are in deep trouble then!" Matt exclaimed.

* * *

Klaus rose on his feet, while pacing, back and forth, in front of the sitting position of his brother.

"So, we're in deep above our heads, if I understand correctly, Elijah?" Klaus asked, while sighing and passing a hand through his tangled hair.

"Yes, we pretty much are!" Elijah replied, while rubbing his hands and shrugging.

"We need to run, we need to take Rebekah and Caroline with us, and run!" Klaus busted, nervously.

"He'll find us wherever we'll hide, nothing is passing the intelligent of this man, Klaus. And for me to say it, you can believe that it's true." Elijah added.

"What was Shinichi's Sin, Elijah?" Klaus asked him.

"Envy...It was Envy." Elijah replied.

"He doesn't strike me as someone who would be envious of anyone." Klaus replied to him.

"He's not!" Elijah confirmed. "He took an interest in Caroline, and that fact could buy us some precious time." Elijah added, before continuing. "For the time that he will stay interested in her, he won't try to kill our line of vampire, therefore, he won't try to kill you!"

"Are you telling me that Caroline has my life in her hands?" Klaus asked his eldest brother.

"Yes, it's exactly what I am saying." Elijah replied to him, before rising on his feet. "It seems that this young vampire girl was meant to become your salvation, Klaus."

"I won't let him be at a near inch of her!" Klaus mumbled, angrily, between his teeth, before bending his upper body near Elijah's, while staring into his eyes.

"Then you need to gain her total trust in you, and to prepare her to fight by your side, Klaus, because it's the only way, we will win this war against him, and that is by regrouping and joining our forces, otherwise, we will all die!" Elijah confessed his fear to him.

"Gaining her total trust now, Elijah, is easier said than done." Klaus replied, while sighing and closing his eyes, before reopening them suddenly, before letting a smirk raise the corner of his lips. He knew what he needed to do to make Caroline trust him, but it would not be an easy task to accomplish.

* * *

Caroline took her first walking steps on the sidewalk, while sliding a hand in her crossover bag to find her car keys.

"Ah! Here they are!" She exclaimed, while smiling and retrieving her key ring.

Her morning had been quite uneventful: boring classes, with the only highlight of a quiet coffee break with Elena and Bonnie, who both took the opportunity to question her, none stop, about her frequent trips away from Mystic Falls. She had to shrug her shoulders and mumbled that a far cousin of her mother was sick and that her help was needed, to which Elena and Bonnie had stared into each other eyes, with doubts showing all over their facial expressions.

And to continue her embarrassment, Mrs. Cartier, her French teacher, had asked her a question in the French class, to which she had answered correctly, but unfortunately, had added: "どういたしまして" – You're welcome in Japanese, making the all class burst into laughter, and herself blush the range of fifty shades of red.

"I was not aware you knew Japanese?" Bonnie had asked Caroline, while leaving the class, by hers and Elena's side.

"I don't o.k.?" Caroline had responded, nervously, before closing her eyes, sighing several times to calm herself down. "I saw a documentary yesterday on Tokyo, and that expression stayed in my mind." She gave the evasive explanation, in a more relaxed tone of voice, to which, Elena and Bonnie had shrugged their shoulders.

Truth being told, she was not able to put her recent trip with Klaus out of her mind. Their escape from Shinichi, her abduction, and her time with the hybrid in the shower, was enough to occupy her mind. She blushed while remembering the event for the hundreds of times since their return in Mystic Falls. She could not shake him out of her mind, and that was not a good sign, not a good sign at all, she kept repeating herself, while walking rapidly on the sidewalk, in direction of her parked car.

She raised he sight, and she suddenly saw him while jumping out of her skin. He was standing, arms crossed over his chest, the left side of his upper body, leaning on a tree trunk, while staring, with his deep blue eyes, at her. The wind has tangled his hair, and several days of no shaving was showing a beginning of a beard on his manly jaw. He was wearing a black pair of jeans, and biker's boots, fitted grey, long sleeves, t-shirt, with on his neck, a couple of beans necklaces, and a black cross.

Caroline closed her eyes for a short moment, while counting up to ten. She needed to get a grip on herself, she needed to stop this nonsense called: Fantasying about a man that you hated more than anything, not even a month ago.

She raised her chin in his direction before strolling by his standing position, near the tree, while ignoring his presence and continuing her walking pace.

"Oh so, I see, Love." She heard his sweet English accent say to her. "We are back with the: _**"I ignore Klaus, as much as I can, while showing myself in the public eyes of Mystic Falls"**_ , Even if you slept with me, in "my" bed, in Tokyo?" He added in a higher tone of voice, while smirking, and following her walking steps, his hands buried in his up front jeans pockets.

Damn he looked sexy! Caroline froze on the spot, while closing her fists in anger.

"Oh, you…" She lashed out to Klaus, while turning on herself and pointing a finger on his chest. "Could you lower you voice, and keep this to yourself! And for your information, I did not sleep with you; I lay down by your side, while falling asleep in your bed, big difference Mister I know everything!" She added, while crossing her arms over her chest, turning on her heels, and reaching the driver's side of her car.

"Don't be angry, Love. It's actually kind of nice, seeing you all shy and wrapped up in your feelings about what obviously happened between us in Tokyo. I think we're growing into a real relationship now." Klaus teased, while smirking and leaning his body on her driver's door, forbidding her to enter her car key inside the door. "I bet you've been thinking about me all the time since the plane landed in Mystic Falls, am I right? Especially while taking a shower, no?" He inquired, while titling his head.

"Klaus" She mumbled, angrily between her teeth, while rolling her eyes, before trying to slide her key in the driver's door, with him sliding his hips over the hole to forbid her to succeed. "Get out of my way! Your brother, Elijah, sent me a text message about wanting to see all of us for a meeting at the Salvatore's boarding house." She informed him, before adding in a whisper, with pleading eyes. "He wrote that it's urgent. It's concerning Shinichi; I need to go, please?"

"Nothing I can't tell you myself. You're always safe with me, Love. And, you're about to discover how safe you really are by my side." He replied, while grabbing firmly her right hand in his, before dragging Caroline by his side, toward his own car. _**What did he meant by that exactly**_? Caroline thought in herself.

"Klaus, let go of my hand, now!" She yelled the order, before trying to free herself from his grip, but without being able to succeed, before feeling a wonderful tingling sensation on her skin. "Where do you want me to go with you?"

"I'm bringing you to our fifth date." He answered, while keeping his walking pace.

"What?" She exclaimed, in complete shock, while pulling her hand so hard from his, that she finally free herself. "No, you do not take me anywhere! I do not belong to you, I belong to Tyler! I'm not going anywhere with you now, or even later today. I'll let you know when I will be willing to be with you for our fifth date. That was our agreement, do you remember?" This was getting too personal for Caroline's taste.

Klaus turned on himself, closed fists leaning on each side of his tensed body, while narrowing his sight in hers.

"Yet…" He mumbled angrily between his teeth, to a surprise Caroline.

"Pardon me?" She asked him, with wide opened eyes.

"You do not belong to me, **yet**!" He lashed out. "Caroline, get your pretty little ass in my car, now! It's not a time for you to act like a spoiled child." Klaus ordered, while raising one of his eyebrows and pointing a finger toward the parked car. "Or I will put you on my shoulder like a bag of potatoes, and I'll bring you in it, myself?" He added, as a warning, while staring into her eyes. "Am I enough clear in my intention now?"

Caroline felt a range of intense shivers, hitting her spine, all at once. She had never seen him so focused and cold with her before. The man was on a mission, and she had the strange feeling the mission was entirely to kidnap her to a recluse hiding place, only known by him.

"Pff…" She responded, while raising her chin, turning on her heels and walking back to her car, before feeling Klaus's strong hands lifting her up in his arms, before raising her body on his right shoulder.

"Now, that is more like it." Klaus exclaimed, while slapping her butt.

"Put me on my feet now, you heartless jerk!" She yelled from the top of her lungs, while hitting his back with her closed fists. "Klaus put me down!"

He walked the last remaining steps in direction of his car, with the biggest smirk plastered on his face, with the curious stares of pedestrian fixated at them in a mix of curiosity, amazement and amusement.

Klaus reached for his car key in his jeans' front pocket, before entering the key, and opening the passenger door, before sliding his hands on Caroline waist, and slowly letting her body fall on his, their eyes meeting for the first time.

Caroline was now standing in front of him, her body glued to his, while grabbing, with both of her sweaty palms, his t-shirt to maintain her equilibrium. His hands were firmly placed on her waist to maintain her equilibrium.

"Get in the car!" He ordered gently, with his eyes locked in hers.

She raised her hands in the air, in the intention of slapping him across the face, but he intercepted her gesture, while grabbing her wrist firmly with his left hand.

"Oh, oh, oh…What did I tell you about raising your hand on me one more time, Caroline?" Klaus asked, while lowering her wrist near her hips. "Good girl! Now, get in the car."

Caroline kept her stare in his; she would not back down in front of him, never! She swallowed a nervous lump in her throat, and felt shivers of fear and raw desire hitting her all at once.

Yes, for the first time, she was feeling a mix of fear and hot desire inside of herself, a mix of feelings that she was not accustomed to experience. And she finally realized that Klaus Mikaelson had the power of turning her life upside-down.

"What? You're going to abduct me too? Drug me, or abuse me?" Caroline asked, while raising her chin in a confrontational gesture.

Klaus growled in anger, before putting both of his hands on the car, on each side of her body.

"I would never hurt you, in any way, and you know that fact about me, Caroline." Klaus replied, while biting the inside of his cheek, and closing his fists in anger.

"I know nothing about you, Klaus, except that in all our previous dates, you were able to show me the world, because of the power and money that you have in your disposal. But, that is not showing your heart. You were never able to make me feel safe like Tyler is able to make me feel safe!" She busted, in anger, while lying through her teeth.

Klaus blenched on the insult, while sighing loudly; receiving ten punches in the stomach would not have been worst for him.

"Well, Caroline…Then you won't be sad if this date is nothing like the previous ones." He informed her, before adding. "No luxury, no private jet, no Tokyo or Paris…Just you and me, and this time, I won't protect you. Now get in the car!" He ordered once more, while seeing her climb on the passenger seat, before closing the door on her.

* * *

"Do you want to listen to music?" Klaus asked Caroline, while turning his sight from the route to take a quick glimpse at her.

She kept silent, with her arms crossed over her chest and her head turned to her own window, while staring at the panorama.

"So, it's the silence treatment then? From you it's quite a change, sweetheart." Klaus said, mockingly.

"Go to hell!" She simply replied, while tightening her arms around her.

"So, what changed, Caroline?" He asked, while tightening his hands on the staring wheel.

"What do you mean by what changed, Klaus? You've changed! Where are your good manners, or are you finally showing your true self to me now?" She asked, while shrugging her shoulders with annoyance.

"What changed inside the woman who was in my arms in Tokyo, half naked, in the shower, or with me in my bed, while confronting her fears and letting me rock her in my arms to fall asleep? Now, it's a cold bitch who's sitting beside me in the car." He mumbled, angrily, between his teeth.

"Oh!" Caroline exclaimed, in total shock, while turning red in a matter of seconds. "How dare you saying this to me? I followed you all around the world; I've been abducted and drugged by an enemy of your family, I've lied to my family, I lied to my friends, I compelled people, all of this only to free my boyfriend from the sire bond that you have over him."

Klaus kept quiet, while fixating the route in front of his sight, before letting a smirk spread on his lips.

"Why are you smirking now?" She asked him, while closing her fists in anger.

"It's all bullshit, Love, and you know it." He replied, while leaving the highway and taking a deserted route in direction of the woods. "You did not do all of this to free Tyler from my sire bond... I know it, and you know it."

"No? And for what other reasons then?" She shouted at him.

"Well, maybe you did it on a small scale to help Tyler, but mostly, Caroline, you are drawn to me, on a deeper level that you've ever experienced before. I awaken the woman that you are meant to be, and it's triggering a desire to be with me that is bigger than your all being. Whenever our eyes met, it goes deeper into your soul, and it's scarring the hell out of you, every past time I've touched you, a burning desire left you breathless, but you can't do without wanting more of me, because I am the breath that's reviving your heart, body and soul." Klaus explained to her, before turning his head and locking his eyes with hers.

Caroline raised a hand over her chest, an intense fire reaching her cheeks, while keeping her eyes locked with the alpha.

Klaus took her left hand in his, while raising it to his mouth, before sweet kissing each of her fingers.

"And you're afraid of getting physical with me, because you already know in the deepness of your soul that it will be different than what you've experienced before, and that it will shatter your life in thousands of pieces." Klaus continued explaining, before turning his sight back at the route, but while keeping her hand in his.

"So, you only want to sleep with me then? Do I need to sleep with you to free Tyler of your sire bond?" She replied, dryly.

"Of course I want to sleep with you, Love. I'm not made of wood! But, I told you that I would not force myself on you, and I will keep my words. I will wait for the day that you will ask me to make love to you. As for our agreement, I will free Tyler after our last date together; I swore that I will on this subject." He responded to her, while softly caressing her wrist with the tip of his thumb.

Why was he doing this, Caroline thought, while feeling butterflies attacking her belly?

"Then what do you want from me?" Caroline asked him.

"I want you to admit that you desire to be with me, that you are thinking of me, and that you want to make love to me." He listed, while shrugging. "Can you do that?" He asked of her.

"Klaus…Please, don't do this." She begged, in turmoil, while turning her head back to her window. They were now heading toward a small path in the woods.

"Why not, Love? How can we trust each other, if we are not being honest?" Klaus wondered.

"Klaus…I can't!" She repeated, while closing her eyes.

"Yes, you can, Caroline!" He replied, while stopping the engine of the truck in front of a cabin, before slowly grabbing her chin in his right hand. "Look at me." He asked. "Are you attracted to me?"

Caroline lowered her flushed cheeks and sight away from his.

"Look into my eyes, Love." He ordered, softly.

She slowly raised her sight in his, while swallowing a lump in her throat.

"Are you?" He asked, once again.

"Yes…" She responded, in a low whisper.

Klaus grinned, before caressing her left cheek, with the back of his right hand.

"Then, maybe if we would have met in different circumstances, maybe if Tyler was not in the mix, maybe if we were not enemies, Klaus…But, all of those factors are changing everything. You've killed people that I love, you sired my boyfriend, and you tortured Elena. But, you also saved my life, and you brought me to places that I've never imagined seeing, you can also show a girl a good time, and you can make her feel like a princess, while being cherished and desired, and I never felt this way in all my life with any man before you, I've never been treated that way either, so I felt something, and yes, I'm attracted to you physically, but, I can't explore this further." She confessed, in one single breath of a sentence.

Klaus stared into her eyes, while bending his head near Caroline's, before cupping her face in his hands.

"Why? Tell me why, you can't go further, Caroline?" He asked.

"I can't trust you completely. If there's no trust in a relationship, nothing can exist." She finally admitted, while lowering her sight away from his.

Klaus stayed motionless for a short moment, before slowly sweet kissing her forehead, making Caroline raised her head in surprise.

"I'm about to prove to you otherwise, Love, are you up for the challenge?" He replied, while smirking at her. "Now come, our fifth date is waiting for us." He suggested. "You should call your mother, and tell her that you will be at your friend's house for the night … And we also need to discuss an urgent matter."

* * *

"Come?" Matt invited Rebekah, while taking a few walking steps into the footpath that was leading to the porch of his house.

"Matt, I've told you already, I don't need baby-sitting from you. You don't need to feel obligated to anything just because we …" She stumbled through her sentence, while blushing and rubbing her hands together.

Matt turned on himself, before rolling his eyes at her, and reaffirming his invitation.

"Come, I've said!"

He reached the front porch, while sliding the house key inside the lock, before pushing the door open. He got rid of his coat jeans, before hanging it on a hook placed on the wall, before frowning incredulous at Rebekah's standing position in front of the arch door.

"Rebekah, what did I just told you? Stop being your melodramatic self, please?" He asked of her.

"I'm not!" She exclaimed, while staring at him with puppy eyes. "I just can't enter, literally."

"Oh… Of course, I was silly." Matt responded, while smiling, and passing a hand through his hair. "Rebekah, you can enter in the house." He invited the Original. "Sorry, I'm still new in this supernatural stuff."

"It's ok." Rebekah replied, while smiling timidly, and rubbing her sweaty hands on her jeans, before closing the door behind her.

"You can enter further more you know, I know it's not a Manor, but nevertheless it's my home." He said, while waiving his fingers for her to enter into the living room.

Rebekah took a few steps inside the house, while scattering the room, a timid smile plastered on her face.

"It's charming." She said, while grabbing in her hands a picture frame placed on a table.

"Charming? It's a dump, Rebekha, I won't be mad if you're telling the truth, believe me." He replied, while shaking his head.

"It's not a dump, it's a home, with pictures, and lace curtains, and homemade cushions." She noticed, while shrugging her shoulders.

"You have a Manor, Rebekah. It's huge, and beautiful!" Matt replied, shrugging.

"And cold, and most of the time empty…Elijah is for the most part never there, Kol is God knows where. Klaus build this huge house to bring our family closer, and at the end, we are all alone in this big empty space." She responded, toneless, while putting the frame back on the table.

"I'm sorry, Rebekah, I did not realize." Matt responded, while shaking his head.

"It's ok." She reassured him. "Is it your mom?" She asked, while pointing toward another frame on the fireplace mantle.

"Yes, it is." He nodded, while approaching her standing position, and taking the frame in his hands.

"She's beautiful." She said, honestly.

"And also very absent in my life." He added, while putting the frame back on the mantle.

"But at least she did not try to kill you." Rebekah responded, scoffer, to which Matt started to laugh.

"I'm so sorry." He mumbled, apologetically. "It's awful to laugh at what your mother has tried to do to you and your siblings."

"No, please, it's actually laughable." Rebekah responded, laugher in her own voice.

They share a good laugh for a short moment, before staring into each other's eyes, and smiling.

"You're strong; do you know that, Rebekah Mikaelson?" Matt affirmed, while sliding a strand of her hair behind her left ear.

"Far from it" She told him, while lowering her sight.

Matt took her chin in his right hand, before raising her head to lock his eyes with hers.

"You are." He reaffirmed, while smiling at the vampire.

"I…I have to go." She informed, while nodding her head.

"To go where, Rebekak, to an empty – big – cold house, where nobody is waiting for you?" He asked.

"But it's the only home that I know now, Matt." She shrugged.

"Come!" He said, while grabbing her right hand, and dragging her behind him, toward the kitchen.

"Where are you bringing me?" She giggled, while following him.

"I'm bringing you to the kitchen." He replied, while grabbing an apron on a hook, and handing it to Rebekah. "We'll make an early dinner. You will taste my extraordinary meatballs spaghetti." He explained proudly, before adding. "I hope you can chop cucumbers for a salad?" He asked, before grabbing an apron for himself, while dressing with it.

"Hey!" Rebekah exclaimed, while laughing and hitting him on his bottom with the piece of fabric. "I'm not that useless." She added. "What can I do to help?"

"Take the chopping board, and cut the cucumbers and tomatoes that you will find in the fridge." Matt guided her. "You'll see. We'll make a real feast for ourselves." He added, while putting water and salt in a casserole to prepare the pasta.

"Matt?" She called him, while standing by his side, in front of the kitchen counter.

"Mm…" He mumbled, while placing the casserole on the burner, before turning his head to take a look at her.

"Thank you." She simply said, with a smile.

"You're welcome." He replied, while smiling back at her. "I knew you were feeling alone, after the meeting with your brother, and this unreal "Kitsune" curse."

"I was." She replied, while nodding her head.

"Well, the good news that came out of it is that for the time being, we seems to be ally and not enemies anymore. So, why not celebrate that fact with a nice dinner?" He concluded, while shrugging his shoulders, to which she nodded her head, before starting to chop the vegetables for the salad.

* * *

The cabin was rustic, clean, and with a nice scent of pine inside. Red cotton curtains were placed in front of the two front windows, with only a single room to compliment the inside. A round table with four chairs, a sink with a small kitchen counter, and an iron bed, with a patchwork bedspread, that gave the finishing touch to the decor.

"It's an old fisherman relay." Klaus explained to Caroline, while carrying a picnic basket in his hands, before dropping it on the kitchen counter.

Well it was definitely not a five stars deluxe hotel that was for sure! But if he thought for even one second, that she would feel uncomfortable in this situation, he would be surprised.

"So, you want to have a picnic or something?" She asked, while rolling her eyes at him.

"Actually, Love, I only brought with me: bags of blood, bread, cheese, and strawberries, and bottles of wine." He explained furthermore, while bringing out from the inside of the basket, the enumerated list. He took a few walking steps to reach Caroline's standing position, before bending his upper body near hers, while lifting her chin to brush her lips of a kiss. "We'll need to go hunting for our dinner." He announced, with a mocking tone in his voice.

"What?" She exclaimed, while looking at him in shock. "No, I won't go hunting small little rabbits or Bambi, out of the question, Klaus!" She responded, firmly, while crossing her arms in front of her chest, before pouting adorably.

Klaus rolled his eyes to the ceiling, before handing a fishing rod to Caroline.

"Where going fishing." He explained, while smiling heavenly.

Caroline took the fishing rod in her right hand, while smiling back at him.

"In that case, you're on." She responded, smiling, while raising her chin in the air, as a confrontational gesture.

"You seem sure of yourself, Miss Forbes." Klaus mocked, while smirking.

"I am, Mister Mikaelson. I've been fishing with my father since I was three years old, and I will catch fishes, and not share any of them with you!" She exclaimed, proudly, while taking in her hands the fisher boots that he was handing to her.

"In case you're really bad at it, we still have the blood bags, the strawberries, the wine, the cheese and the bread, you know?" Klaus replied, scoffer.

"Oh, go to hell!" Caroline lashed out, while stumping her feet on the cabin floor, before storming out of the cabin, while hearing the laugh of the hybrid in her ears.

* * *

"Well?" Matt asked, smirking, with his left arm put behind Rebekah's shoulders, on the sofa, before taking a gulp of his beer bottle.

"It was not bad." She responded, playful, while shrugging her shoulders, and gulping a bottle herself.

"Not bad, what do you mean not bad?" Matt asked, horrified, while dropping his bottle on the living room table, before tickling Rebekah on her waist.

"No, no, no, stop, Matt, please!" She begged of him, while dropping her bottle on the floor, before wrestling to free herself from his tickling attack. "Ok, ok…It was the best meatballs spaghetti that I've ever eaten."

"It sure is the best spaghetti dish from Mystic Falls County, Miss Mikaelson." He mocked, while holding her wrists above her head, before laying his body in top of Rebekah's. "Now say that you are sorry?" He demanded, while drowning his sight in hers.

"That is unfair… I've never said otherwise." She exclaimed, while laughing.

Matt brushed one strand of hair away from Rebekah's face, before following the line of her delicate jaw. He caressed both of her cheeks, while sliding his thumb on the length of her bottom lip.

"You're so beautiful." He murmured, hoarsely.

Rebekah put her hands on his forearms, while kissing the tip of his finger, before saying:

"I should probably go now." She said.

"Or you could stay and we could make out on the sofa?" He suggested with an arched eyebrow.

"Make out?" She asked, surprised, and while lowering her flushed cheeks.

Matt straightened his body in a sitting position, before handing his left hand to help her sit.

"I always forget that you did not live for very long, in our modern time." Matt reminded himself.

"I'm not stupid, Matt!" Rebekha pouted. "I know what making out means."

"And I've never said that you were, Rebekah." Matt replied, gently, while bringing her in the comfort of his arms, with her head resting on his chest. "I thought we could stay like this, in each other's arms, while listening to the music, and kissing from time to time. And after making out with you, I could bring you back to your home, would you like that?" He asked, while caressing the silkiness of her blond hair.

Rebekah raised her head, before drowning her sight in his, while smiling.

"Yes, I would like that very much, Matt Donovan." She replied, while closing her eyes, and feeling the softness of his lips on her mouth, while responding eagerly to his kiss.

* * *

"Who caught these two beautiful trout? You know? You know?" Caroline teased Klaus, while entering the cabin, before passing them under his nose.

"Who will clean these beautiful trout? You know? You know?" Klaus asked, tit for tat, mockingly.

"Bark…You, perhaps? Pretty please, Klaus?" Caroline begged, while beating her eyelashes at him.

"Not in this life time, Love…I will sit, and enjoy a big piece of fresh bread, that I will warm up in the oven, with a slice of delicious melted cheese on top, and a big glass of wine in my hand, while you will eat your trout." He replied, scoffer, while sitting on a chair, before raising his boots on the table, with the biggest smirk plastered on his face.

She frowned, before pushing his boots back on the floor and glaring madly at him, while approaching the small kitchen counter and taking a chopping board and knife to open the fish.

"I know how to clean a fish, my father thought me, it's just disgusting." She replied to Klaus, while shrugging her shoulders.

"At least your father thought you something, Caroline." Klaus murmured, while staring into the emptiness of the room.

Caroline turned on herself, while seeing him lost in the deepness and darkness of his thoughts.

"How…I mean, how was Mikael with you?" She asked, while turning her sight back at her task. "I remembered you've told me that he killed your horse, but he could not have been this bad with you all the time?" She added, honestly concerned.

"With me he was cold, distant, and indifferent…All the time." He responded, truthfully, to Caroline, before rising on his feet, and picking up one of the bottles of wine placed on the kitchen counter. "He hated me the minute I was born; I was the bastard child of my mother."

"But you were only a baby." Caroline responded, while shaking her head. "How could he put his hate on you this way?"

Klaus shrugged his shoulders, while pouring wine into his glass, before gulping its content.

"I don't want to talk about it, Love." He told her, before pouring more wine in his glass.

Caroline closed her eyes, while counting up to ten, and in reverse. That hybrid man was without a doubt the most complex and stubborn person that she had to meet in all her life.

"Ok" She replied, while shrugging her shoulders with a false indifference. "Do you have an idea how we will battle against Shinichi?" She asked, while turning on herself and cleaning her hands on a kitchen cloth.

During their fishing time at the pond, he had explained to Caroline, in details, the Kitsune Curse and the involvement of Elijah in the story.

"Elijah seems to think that we need to trust each other, because we are linked together, at least for our safety. Shinichi has taken an interest in you and he will not back down until you will be his." Klaus explained, while making Caroline startled in fear. "But, now that it's been cleared between us that you don't feel safe with me by your side, I don't see how this is even remotely possible?" Klaus concluded, while stirring the wine in his glass.

"I did not say that!" She busted, while closing her fists and eyes in rage.

"Yes, that is exactly what you've said to me." Klaus confirmed. "You've said clearly that you don't trust me."

"Well, I did not mean it that way then." She replied, while throwing the cloth, and grabbing the counter with both hands, while closing her eyes.

"What did you meant, then?" She heard the soft whisper in her left ear, while feeling two hands encircling her waist.

She closed her eyes, while feeling an intense desire hitting her chore.

"I meant it as it is difficult for me to trust you completely because of your past behaviour, Klaus…But, I know inside of me that you could not hurt me in any way, intentionally that is." She whispered, while closing her eyes.

"How could you be certain that I would not hurt you, sweetheart?" He asked, while caressing the roundness of her hips, raising his hands on her waist, higher on the curves of her breasts.

"I…" She whispered, while leaning her head on his chest, her eyes closed, while pouting under his expert caresses. "I just know." She confessed in a murmur.

He suddenly detached his body from hers, while making Caroline open her eyes in surprise.

"I'll go find some wood to make a fire." He informed the young vampire, before storming outside the cabin, while leaving her breathless.

* * *

Caroline had a smile plastered on her face the all-time she wiped the dishes. She had to admit to herself that she loved the time she had passed with Klaus today. And it was not because of Paris, or Tokyo, or beautiful luxury hotel rooms this time…It was…It was…It was because…Oh shit! It was because of "him", she admitted to herself while closing her eyes. She loved to be in his company, it was as simple as that.

"You want me to make coffee, before you drive me back to Mystic Falls?" She asked, while sliding the last plate on a shelf. "Klaus?" She called his name, while being answered by the silence, before turning on herself and finding the room deserted, with the cabin door opened.

"Klaus?" She yelled once more, while directing her walking steps toward the opened door, before passing her head underneath the arch, while glaring at the full moon above her head.

She stepped outside, before walking toward the parked truck, turning on herself several times, while shouting his name repeatedly, before hearing the cabin door slam close in a big bang noise, while making her jump out of her skin in fear.

"Oh my God…Ok, get a grip on yourself, Caroline!" She mumbled, while sighing loudly, before closing her eyes and sliding a hand on her trembling chest. "It's just a door that shut by itself."

And then she heard the subtle growl sounds. She froze on the spot. The last time she had heard that sound, she was standing in the woods with Stefan by her side, while battling Mason Lockwood in his werewolf form.

"Who's there?" She asked, before turning her head alternatively from left to right – right to left, while slowly retracing her steps toward the cabin.

Caroline froze on her track while keeping motionless. In front of her sight, the most magnificent animal that she had ever saw in all her life, with its glossy black fur and its blue intense cold gaze, was blocking her path.

She was not as stupid as not knowing who it was; she raised her sight at the full moon, then back at the animal that was staring at her, like a predator would at his prey, his fangs out of his mouth, with his dark stare directed at her.

"I know what you're doing, and it won't work, Klaus!" She busted, in anger, at the animal, while drowning her sight in his.

The werewolf growled more, before encircling her, in a slow – ritual dance, while staring at her every move.

Caroline was gasping, drops of sweat on her forehead. She tried to take a step on the right, but the beast growled ever more, while barking furiously.

"Ok, ok, I won't move!" She said, while slowly lowering her hand in front of the beast. "Just stay calm, ok?"

The beast turned its head for a fraction of second, and Caroline reacted without thinking – She started to run in her vampire speed in direction of the woods, while trying to save her life, before hearing the mad rush of the animal behind her running steps, in tempo with the whisper of his breathing, and the sound of his rage. She tripped over a branch while growling on the forest ground, before feeling its breath on her neck, his growl in her ears.

"Oh my God…Please, no!" She growled more to reach a tree trunk, rising on her feet, before grabbing the bark with her left hand, while sighing with fear.

The werewolf encircled the tree, before approaching Caroline slowly.

"No, please." She pleaded for her life, while feeling tears rolling on her cheeks. Now, she had no other choices but to face her fatality.

When suddenly, she felt the snout of the werewolf touching the palm of her right hand, she startled in surprise, before slowly reopening her eyes, and feeling the werewolf lick her hand.

"I'm going to kill you for this, you know, I swear." She murmured, while letting herself fell on the ground, not able to support herself on her legs anymore, before facing the werewolf, her hands slowly sliding on its back, on the fur of the beast, her eyes lost in his dark bluish eyes.

She caressed the werewolf for a moment while hearing grown of satisfaction.

"Even in your werewolf form, you want me to caress you?" She mocked, while rolling her eyes and starting to relax.

The werewolf howled at the moon, before pushing its nose on Caroline, to which she laughed. Then, the beast detached itself from the vampire, while staring at her one last time, before leaving.

Caroline closed her eyes, while sliding a hand on her chest to calm herself down. She would never remember how long she had stayed in that position; she only remembered finally rising on her feet, before slowly raising her head and noticing a dark shadow advancing toward her.

Klaus finally reached Caroline, while putting his hands on the tree trunk, on each side of her head, while standing naked chest and feet, with his jeans ragged in pieces on him.

"Don't ever do this to me again, do you hear me!" She angrily warned him, while hitting his chest with both of her closed fists, tears rolling fluently on her cheeks, before drowning her eyes in his. She raised her hands on his chest, while encircling her arms around his neck, before crashing her mouth furiously on his.

Klaus growled sounds of pleasure, while sliding his hands on her waist, down on her hips, on her bottom, before elevating her body on his by making her cross her legs around his waist, her back pushed on the tree trunk. His lips devoured each inch of the right side of her neck, up to the delicate line of her jaw, before searching for her mouth again, while sliding his tongue between her lips, in a kiss that demanded total submission of her part, while frantically rubbing his hands all over her body, his hard bulge pushing into Caroline's pelvis with rhythmic tempo, that would have probably damned a saint!

"You're mine, Caroline; you're my "female". And now you know that you can trust me with your life." He murmured on her lips, while letting her get back on her feet, sliding a hand under her knees, before carrying her to the cabin, her arms crossed around his neck, her head resting on his shoulder.


	10. Arian Satō

Klaus opened the cabin door with his right bare foot, while keeping his eyes intensively locked with Caroline's. Her arms crossed around his neck, her hands buried in his golden locks, while caressing the bottom base of his neck and creating a range of shivers in his spine, making him close his eyes under the intensity of her caresses. Their foreheads touched and their lips parted with a single breath of passion, silently passing in a rhythmic tempo between their mouths.

He carried the young vampire toward the bed. Caroline was now positioned on her knees on the bedspread, with his own body placed behind her back. His hands firmly placed on her hips, before slowly sliding them on her waist, breasts, while modeling her skin with each of his caress, with his lips nibbling on her left earlobe. He raised both of his hands on her shirt, while making Caroline moan in surprise when he twitched open the fabric, with buttons falling everywhere on the cabin wooded floor, before leaving her standing half naked, in her black lace bra.

"Oh!" Caroline exclaimed, in surprise, before closing her eyes, while being lead toward a pure bliss of bestial and primitive desire.

"You're mine." He murmured, his eyes closed, lost in his own physical and emotional needs.

Even if Klaus had regained his human form, Caroline knew by instinct that he was still driven by his werewolf's animalistic emotions and needs, and lost in his sexual call to make her his. She was not even able to think clearly or to regain a normal state of mind. She had responded to him in a way that she had never responded to any other man before him…Instinctively, urgently, passionately...The call of the male to his female, and the response of the mate to his lover.

He cupped her breasts with two hands full, lowering them on her waist, hips, on her short pleated skirt, taking its hem, before raising the fabric on her hips, growling sounds of pleasure coming out of his mouth, while caressing with his fingers the skin of her thighs and the lace just above her stalking suspenders.

"I can't believe you were wearing this sexy thing while fishing with me a few hours ago." He murmured, while kissing, licking, devouring the roundness of her left shoulder. "Oh, _**Love**_ , you're so sexy." He whispered the words near her left ear, while making Caroline open her eyes.

Klaus Mikaelson, the hybrid, was back! The real, manipulative: _**I will have, what I want, when I want**_! The sensual sortilege was broken ... But, his hands, his mouth, and his hard bulge that was pushing on her lower back, while creating a fire in her chore that reached the depth of her femininity, were still very present. Would she be able to push him away?

"You promise to not force yourself on me. You've said that you would wait for me to tell you that I wanted this?" She complained, while trying to push his hands away from her body.

"I've said that I would wait for you to tell me, which is what you're doing now while letting me know with the response of your entire body." He replied, while unhooking her bra.

"Please, Klaus?" She begged, in a murmur, while closing her eyes and lowering her head on his chest. Caroline had no more strength within herself; it was all in his hands now…And his hands were at the moment rubbing her body urgently.

"I can't, Caroline...I need you too much, and I need this too much..." He growled, while making her suddenly moan under the intense pain and pleasure of feeling his right hand grab a hand full of her blond curls, before bending her head toward the back, with the white and silky skin of her neck offered to his fiery sight.

He slowly lowered his head near the right side of her neck, while inhaling her smell, like a male would primitively recognize his mate, before sliding his manly lips on the length of her blue vein, entering very so slowly the tip of his fangs in her delicate skin, while slightly scratching her skin, the taste of her blood touching the tip of his tongue.

"One day...One day...Caroline…" He whispered, before closing the two holes and letting the straps fall from her shoulders.

Caroline opened her eyes widely, while feeling an intense shiver hitting her entire body. One day? What did he meant by that? He'll bite her? Taste her blood? Exchange it with her?

* * *

"Thanks for giving me a ride home, Matt." Rebekah said, shyly, before climbing the few stairs to reach the outdoor porch of the Mikaelson Mansion, while nervously rubbing her hands together.

"It was a pleasure, Miss Mikaelson." He responded, scoffer, while sliding his hands in his jeans' back pockets, before reaching her standing position on the porch.

Rebekah finally turned on herself before facing the young man.

"The invitation was really nice. I've never cooked with a guy before, except with Nick, of course, and I loved your spaghetti night...This evening felt causal...I felt..." She started, without being able to finish her sentence.

"You felt human?" Matt ended her sentence, while questioning her own say, before locking his eyes with Rebekah's.

"Yes, I felt human…When I'm with you…You have this effect on me." She nodded, before lowering her head, while hiding the fire on her cheeks.

"I'm actually not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing for you." Matt wondered.

"Neither…And both…" She replied, while timidly smiling to him. "It's just different…I…I mean, we, as vampires, are not used to rekindle the memory lane about our past humanity. What is in the past will never be again." She confessed, while feeling a tear rolling on her left cheek, before sweeping it away with the back of her hand.

Matt took a step toward the Original, while raising his right hand to caress her left cheek, where another tear had fallen from her eyelashes.

"But, you can still feel, and appreciate every single humanity moment that is coming at you, Rebekha, because being human or a vampire doesn't change anything." Matt told her.

Rebekah lowered her head, before feeling Matt's hand raise her chin up, his eyes searching for the deepness of her soul. She felt his lips touching hers, in a sweet, almost none perceivable kiss. He raised his head, a smile blessing his lips, while taking a few steps back, before nervously passing a quick hand through his hair.

"I'd love for us to go out again, I don't know… We could go out on a date?" Matt asked Rebekah, while shrugging his shoulders. "No pressure though…" He added, with a hand gesture.

Rebekah stood in front of him, with a speechless expression plastered on her face.

"Or not…Obviously you are not sold with the idea." Matt replied to her silent response, while shaking his head in defeat. "Forget about it." He added, while waving his right hand in front of her sight.

Rebekah reached his standing position, before grabbing his hands and shaking her head.

"Matt, please, no, you misunderstood my silence." She responded, while raising his chin to make him look into her eyes. "I was just surprised, that is all. It's not like many guys are asking me to go out on dates, these days." She added, while shrugging her shoulders.

"So, it's a yes or a no?" He asked more.

"Why don't you just say that you're trying to find a way to sleep with me again?" She responded, mockingly

"Well, there is that…Small...Thing…Of…Having…Lost…My…Memory…" Matt said, scoffer, while winking, before taking a few steps toward Rebekah, cupping her face in his hands and mouthing the words in top of her lips. "But, there is also the fact that I am drawn to you, Miss Mikaelson, and that I can't think clearly when you're standing too close by my side." He added, before crashing his mouth on hers.

Rebekah let a nervous laugh sound out of her mouth, before crossing her arms around Matt's neck, while returning his kiss.

"Pardon me. I know it's very impolite of me to interrupt a young couple in their manifestation of tenderness." They heard a man address himself to them.

Rebekah turned on herself, before facing the stranger and instinctively pushing Matt behind her back, as a protection mechanism.

"I don't wish you any harm." The Asiatic man reassured, while rubbing his gloved hands together.

"Of course not, you only want to harm my brothers." Rebekah mumbled, angrily, between her teeth, while feeling Matt's nervousness behind her back. Matt's need to protect Rebekah was surpassing his fear. But he knew nothing about the supernatural world, and he knew even less about Shinichi, who was obviously standing in front of them, in Mystic Falls!

"Mm….Not only beautiful, but intelligent as well, I wouldn't hope for anything less coming from the Original sister." Shinichi replied, while crossing his hands in front of his chest. "It's a pleasure my dear Rebekah." He added.

"Well it's not a pleasure for me!" She replied, dryly.

Matt was finally able to free himself from Rebekha's firm grip on him, while taking a few walking steps to reach Shinichi's standing position.

"Why don't you go back from where you're coming from?" Matt exclaimed into the man's face, while pointing a finger at his chest. "We don't need your wickedness; the people of this town did nothing to your family, leave us alone!"

"How charming, a human. I guess you were bored out of your mind, my dear, to go to such extreme?" He asked Rebekah, scoffer, while dismissing Matt. "Really, I don't remember being entertained that much since centuries." Shinichi added, while smirking. "But my patience can rapidly wear out. Therefore; I suggest that you make contact with one or both of your brothers to tell them that I would like to have a word with one or both of them."

"Leave her out of this!" Matt shouted more, while holding his hand in front of Shinichi. "And just leave us all alone, no one wants to speak to you, no one!"

In a matter of a few seconds, Matt was pushed on the exterior wall of the Manor, just near the entrance door, with Shinichi right hand placed around his throat, preventing any air to enter into his lungs, and leaving Matt blue under the pressure.

"Now, my dear, could you contact one of your brothers for me?" Shinichi asked once more, before turning his head toward the Original, a smirk blessing the corners of his lips. "Or your human friend will be dead in a matter of a few seconds."

* * *

"It's ringing no-stop, Klaus?" Caroline murmured, while holding her bra in place in front of her chest.

"Let it ring." Klaus replied while sliding his hands on the length of her arms. "And let this fall." He added, suggestively into her ear, while pushing the straps down.

"It could be urgent?" She added, while panting under her jerky breaths.

Klaus turned his head to take a glimpse at his cell phone, left on vibrate mode on the small kitchen table. He grunted before jumping away from the bed and reaching for the device, while looking at the list of missed call: fifteen from Rebekah!

"Fifteen messages from my sister?" Klaus mumbled, with a glimpse of fear in the tone of his voice, before finally listening to one of them.

Caroline turned her head toward his standing position, before sitting on the edge of the bed and holding her bra in front of her chest, while watching his reaction.

Klaus closed his eyes, before screaming and throwing his cell phone on the wooden floor of the cabin.

"Get dressed!" He ordered, while handing to Caroline her long sleeve shirt.

"Well, it's not like I can get dressed with this?" She replied, while showing the ripped fabric to the hybrid.

Klaus looked around, before grabbing her coat jeans placed on top of a chair and throwing it to her.

"Put this, you'll close the buttons." He suggested, while handing her the coat, before grabbing his own to dress his bare chest.

"Klaus, what is going on, you're scaring me?" Caroline demanded, while trying to hook her bra, with her shaking hands.

"Let me do it." He murmured, before pushing her hands and grabbing the two pieces of fabric, while creating a range of electricity in Caroline's body. Since when have they become so intimate?

"What is going on? Please, tell me!" She asked once more, while rising on her shaking legs.

Klaus was pacing back and forth in the cabin, while passing a rapid hand through his tangled hair.

"Shinichi is here." He finally confessed, while hitting a chair with his bare foot, with all the anger build inside of him.

"What? Here in Mystic Falls? Oh my God, he has your sister?" Caroline asked, while buttoning her coat jeans, before bending her body to pick up Klaus's boots on the floor. "I suppose you did not have your feet in your boots when you have transformed?" She asked, while handing them to him.

Klaus raised his sight, while timidly smiling to the young vampire, before grabbing them from her hands.

"No." He simply responded, before sitting on a chair, and sliding his bare feet in them. "Not only Rebekah, but Matt Donovan is with my sister also, they are at my Manor, and this lunatic asked to see me, or to see Elijah."

"Matt? You said he's retaining Matt as a prisoner?" She asked, frantically, while raising a hand over her chest. "I'm going with you." She informed him, while taking a few walking steps to reach the cabin entrance door.

"No, you will not come with me, Caroline." Klaus responded, while rising on his own legs to reach Caroline, before firmly grabbing her arms and turning her around to face him. "I'll drop you at your house, and you'll stay inside, safe, do you understand me?" He ordered.

"Don't order me around, please?" She asked, while raising her chin up.

"I'm not giving you orders, Love. I just need to keep you safe, grand me this privilege, please?" He begged, while locking his eyes with Caroline's.

She nodded her head in approval, before being free of his grip.

"Come." He said, while handing his left hand to her.

"Promise me to keep Matt safe, Klaus?" She asked this favor of him.

Klaus rolled his eyes on the ceiling, while frowning.

"Promise me, Klaus?" She repeated once more.

"Ok." He agreed, while nodding his head and feeling Caroline's coldish fingers slide in his.

* * *

_**Earlier that day at the Lockwood Mansion;** _

Carol Lockwood passed her hands on her impeccable two pieces skirt suit, while descending the stairs and reaching the entrance of her home.

"Mr. Satō I presume." She asked, with an impeccable hostess smile on her face.

"Mrs. Lockwood." He replied, while standing straight as an "I" with both of his hands crossed in front of his expensive two pieces man suit.

"It's a pleasure." She said, while handing her right hand.

"The pleasure is, after all, mine, my dear." He responded, while kissing the back of her hand. "I can only be blown away while standing in front of such magnificent woman." He added with charm.

"Oh, please, you're making me blush." Carol replied, while lowering her flushed cheeks. "We could, perhaps, go sit in the parlor room if you don't mind?"

"Lead the way, after you." Arian suggested, while sliding a hand on Carol's lower back, before following her steps.

"Take a seat, Mister Satō." Carol invited him with a hand gesture.

"Thank you." He responded, while making a reverence before taking his sitting position on the leather sofa.

"First, let me tell you, Mister Satō, how thankful and honoured the community of Mystic Falls is with your large contribution of implanting a new manufactory in our small city. This will without doubts, contribute in diminishing the economy crisis and help the economic health of our residents." She explained to him.

"It's my greatest pleasure, Mrs. Lockwood, Satō enterprise was in search of a new manufactory emplacement in America since quite a while now." Arian responded, with a charming smile. "Mystic Falls is not only a charming city, its habitants are equally."

"As a "thank you", what can I do for you, Mister Satō?" Carol asked, while crossing her legs.

"I was wondering if it could be possible for Satō Enterprise to organize a spectacle banquet for the community of Mystic Falls." Arian asked. "And if it's not too much trouble if I could use your charming Manor for this unique event, with money compensation, of course?"

"Oh, none sense, I wouldn't want to hear about any compensation. It would be my pleasure to lend this estate to you, Mister Satō." Carol agreed, enthusiastically, while rising on her feet, and taking a few walking steps to reach the console table to pour drinks. "May I offer you a drink?"

"Please, thank you. Scotch on the rocks." Arian answered.

"Tell me, Mister Satō, what kind of performance are you thinking and talking about? I'm kind of intrigued." Carol wondered.

"With good reasons..." He replied, while rising on his feet, and approaching Carol's standing position, before taking his drink from her hands. "You see, my ancestors used to crusade as gipsies in the country of Egypt, going from village to village, while giving performances."

"How interesting, tell me more." Carol asked, while smiling. "What kind of performances?"

"Well, for what I've heard, for the men it was mostly the handling of swords, friendly competition of course, and dance for the women." He explained, evasively, while sipping his scotch. "I would like to have the chance to show my ancestor's history to the community of Mystic Falls."

"What a magnificent idea!" Carol exclaimed, joyfully, before adding. "Let me suggest a list of invitees to you, mostly, the high society of Mystic Falls."

"I'll have a few requests of invitees myself, if you don't mind?" He added, with a wicked smile plastered on his face and a devil glimmer in his eyes.

* * *

_**Present time;** _

"Lovely Manor, Miss Mikaelson." Shinichi told Rebekah, while taking a few walking steps in the parlor room, with his hands crossed behind his back.

"Are you ok, Matt?" Rebekah whispered to the young man, while putting a comforting hand on his left forearm, before sitting by his side on the leather sofa.

Matt nodded to Rebekah, before rubbing the red marks left on the skin of his neck, while angrily staring at Shinichi, who was standing in front of a painting.

¨Interesting form of art.¨ Shinichi said his thought out loud, before crossing his arms in front of his chest and adding. "Who's the artist?"

¨What is your problem? You've tried to kill me just to have the chance to visit this Manor? ¨ Matt asked, angrily.

¨Mister Donovan, you are way too melodramatic and theatrical for my taste. If I had wanted to kill you, you would be dead already, believe me.¨ Shinichi responded to him.

Rebekah and Matt glanced at each other. It was obvious that Shinichi had taken a lot of information prior to his visit to Mystic Falls, only for the fact that he already knew Matt's family name.

¨The artist, Miss Mikaelson?¨ Shinichi asked once more.

¨It's the art work of my brother." She mumbled, angrily, between her teeth.

"Elijah? I never thought that practicing such art could be of interest to him." He replied, surprised, while grabbing his chin, before continuing to study the painting in front of his eyes.

"Klaus…That painting is from my brother Klaus." She rolled her eyes, mostly annoyed.

Shinichi turned his sight toward their sitting position, before tilting his head.

"You're talking about the hybrid, really, how interesting!" He exclaimed, with excitement.

"As much as finding you in our living room, I presume." A male voice replied, slyly.

"Elijah, I thought you had left the country?" The Asian man replied, while frowning, and narrowing his sight on the Original.

"You thought wrong." Elijah replied, while storming in his vampire speed, before pushing Shinichi on the wall, with a hand placed on his throat. "If you lay once more a hand on my sister or one of her friends, I'll swear Shinichi, immortality or not, I'll find a way to kill you." He mumbled, angrily, between his teeth, while choking the air out of the visitor's lungs.

The Kitsune pushed his right hand on Elijah's chest, before projecting him on the opposite wall.

"But…" Shinichi replied, while catching his breath, and seeing Elijah land on the floor. "Wouldn't it be sweet justice, Elijah?" Shinichi inquired, drily. "After all you took the life of my sister; and it would be fair that I take yours."

"You're in it for the fight of your eternal life, my friend." Elijah replied, before rising on his feet,

Rebekah and Matt were now standing near the entrance door of the room.

"Let's go Rebekah." Matt ordered, while grabbing her right arm to pull her out of the room.

"I can't leave my brother!" She yelled, while pulling back.

"Rebekah, leave with Matt." Elijah yelled back, before getting rid of his blazer, throwing it on the sofa and rolling the sleeves of his shirt. "It's been quite a while since we battled together, Shinichi, don't you think so?"

"Too long my friend, way too long!" Shinichi replied, before elevating his leg in a perfect martial art figure to destabilize Elijah, who intercepted the attack while lowering his upper body.

Matt managed to bring Rebekah in his escaping trail, while sliding a hand around her waist, before pulling her out of the room, in direction of the main entrance of the Manor.

"I have to go back!" She begged him.

"No!" Matt busted, while turning Rebekah to face him. "Something tells me that your brother will be fine."

"What if he has the lethal dagger on him, Matt? What if he kills Elijah?" Rebekah wondered, while grabbing his forearms.

"He doesn't have it, I have this feeling." Matt replied, while grabbing her shoulders.

"How do you know, how can you be sure?" She asked, frantically.

"Because, while he was holding my throat and trying to kill me, I was able to slide my hands on his suits, and the man has nothing on him." He reassured her.

"Oh my God, Matt, you're a genius." She exclaimed, while regaining her smile.

"Barely, I've learned a trick or two in a defence class, in my first years of High School." He replied, while shrugging his shoulders.

The front door suddenly opened on a loud shrill noise, while letting Klaus storm inside the Manor.

"You're ok?" Klaus asked his sister, before grabbing her right arm and locking his eyes with hers.

"I'm fine! Elijah is with him now." She exclaimed, frantically, while pointing a finger in direction of the parlor room.

"Stay safe here with him." Klaus ordered his sister, while rushing to the living room and adding to Matt. "Take care of my sister."

"Wow, he actually acknowledged my presence." Matt said, surprised, while passing a rapid hand through his tangled hair.

* * *

"Well, Elijah you haven't certainly lost your edge after so many centuries." Shinichi noticed, while pushing him on a wooden table, before hearing the table feet broke under the pressure of Elijah's body weight. "But, you're still not as good as me, my dear friend."

"I doubt that, Shinichi, I had centuries of practice, since our last encounter." Elijah replied, before rising on his feet and turning his head to see Klaus storming in direction of Shinichi. "No!" He yelled to his brother, before intercepting and holding him immobile with a hand placed on his chest.

"Let me kill this jerk!" Klaus shouted, while trying to free himself from Elijah's grip.

"Ah! Finally, the one and only: Klaus Mikaelson!" Shinichi exclaimed, while passing a handkerchief on an open wound on his mouth, feeling a trickle of blood flow on his chin.

"Let me finish him, Elijah." Klaus growled.

"How's the lovely Caroline?" Shinichi asked. "I look forward to seeing her again."

Klaus growled more, while being held immobile by Elijah.

"It would be stupid for you to try to kill him now. He's immortal, Klaus." Elijah murmured to his brother. "But, push him to his limits, and he will be able to kill you later with the dagger, and all your descendants, Caroline included."

Klaus closed his eyes and fists in anger, before calming down.

"Wow! I never expected such welcoming party!" Shinichi exclaimed, while dusting his blazer with his hands.

"What do you want?" Klaus asked his enemy.

"Well, actually, as strange as it may seem nothing for the present moment." Shinichi replied. "It was a simple visit of courtesy to inform you that Satō Enterprise has a foothold in Mystic Falls. I actually met the delightful Mrs. Lockwood this afternoon, and ask her to help me." He explained to both brothers, while reaching the arch door. "You'll soon receive an invitation that you can't refuse. I hope to fight again, with you, very soon, Elijah. If you would be so kind to excuse-me now, gentlemen, other urgent matters are calling me." He added, while nodding his head in a reverence, before leaving the room.

Elijah closed his eyes, before bending his upper body and sighing loudly.

"What did he meant by that?" Klaus asked his brother, while pacing back and forth on the length of the room, before passing a quick hand through his tangled hair.

"I have no idea. He has always talked in enigma." Elijah replied, while raising his sight, before shaking his head.

* * *

Caroline rubbed her hands together, while pacing back and forth in front of her bed. Liz Forbes, her mother, had already fallen asleep in her upstairs' bedroom when Klaus had dropped her in front of the house. He had waited, like a perfect gentleman, for her to be inside of her house and safe, before starting the engine again.

If people would have told her a couple of weeks ago that she would have felt secure knowing that Klaus Mikaelson was watching over her, she would have probably burst into laughter in their faces.

She was not able to sleep. Too much was going on at this moment, and her mind was certainly not at a rest and peace mode.

She suddenly froze all her movements, while feeling a veil of coldness brushing her shoulders, a thin fog enveloping everything in the room. She raised her hand on her chest, while turning alternatively her head from right to left, left to right, trying to evaluate if this was a fragment of her imagination or a real supernatural manifestation.

_**Caroline...Caroline…Caroline** _

She heard a voice calling her in repetition, in her head.

_**Come to me, Caroline...** _

And then she knew. She knew by instinct, the person that was calling her.

She walked toward the entrance door of her home, before sliding the curtain on the door window, while staring into his dark eyes.

The dark figure was standing in front of the porch, with his eyes fixated on the entrance door and into the deepness of her eyes. He was wearing a black two pieces man suit, and his hands were buried in his trousers' pockets.

She swallowed a lump in her throat, before slowly pulling the latch and opening the door, while taking slow steps to reach Shinichi's standing position. She stood in front of him, with her chin up as a confrontational gesture.

"You came. You heard me calling you. We have a special connection, Caroline." He addressed his first words to her.

"What do you want, Arian, or should I say Shinichi?" She asked, slyly.

"You, Caroline, I want you, and I always get what I want." He replied, while locking his eyes with the young vampire.

"Go back from where you're coming from, Shinichi, Leave us alone...Leave me alone." She begged of him.

"I could offer you so much..." Shinichi whispered, while starting to walk in circle around her.

"I'm very doubtful of that, and I do not want to be an object of manipulation or revenge for others, anymore." She replied, in anger, to him.

"You were never a purpose to an end in my revenge against the Original; Caroline. You came to me as a surprise. And now I want you to belong to me." He explained.

"It will never happen!" She replied.

"Never is such a strong word, my dear, and so definitive." Shinichi replied, while softly passing the back of his right hand on her right cheek. Caroline turned her head to the left to avoid his touch.

"I have a boyfriend, thank you." Caroline replied.

"You only have one, Caroline? Did you forget Klaus, your lover, the hybrid?" He murmured, mockingly, near her right ear, while turning a strand of her blond hair around his fingers. "I could give you the world...You could become my Queen."

"Not interested of being the Queen of a mad man." She responded, dryly.

"Maybe you'll get interested if I could give you what you heart wants the most?" Shinichi offered her.

Caroline turned her head, while locking her eyes with his.

"How could you even know what my heart wants? We're basically strangers." Caroline replied.

"We are more than that, and you know it. We have a connection, my dear." He replied, while taking a few walking steps to face her. "As for your heart desire, what about becoming a human again?"

Caroline's eyes opened widely. She shook her head in disbelief.

"You're even more pernicious than what I thought you could be." She shouted, in disdain.

"Oh believe me, my dear, I never offered what I could not give." He replied. "Take time to think about it." He added, before turning on himself, and disappearing into the night, while leaving Caroline wondering if this encounter had only been a fragment of her imagination.

* * *

Shinichi entered his hotel suite, while throwing his smartcard on the console table, before directing his steps toward the living room.

"It took you a long time, my dear brother." Misao said to him, lying on the sofa, while putting nail polish on her hands.

"People to see, errands to make, you should know better, sister." He replied, before taking a seat by her side, while undoing his tie.

"So?" She asked, a sadistic smile plastered on her lips.

"Miss Lockwood was more than eager to help Satō Enterprise." He announced, while stretching his arms. "She will organize our little celebration under her Manor's roof." He added, smiling.

Misao busted laughing, while rising on her feet, before reaching the bar and pouring herself a glass of vodka.

"And, what else? What happened to your lips? I need you to entertain me, for God sake, Shinichi. I'm bored out of my mind in this little town." Misao exclaimed, while rolling her eyes and sipping her glass.

"I had an encounter with your ex-lover and with my soon to be mistress." Shinichi said, while carefully watching his sister's reaction.

Misao hold her glass in her hand for a few seconds at the mention of Elijah's name, before closing her eyes, while regaining her calm attitude.

"How interesting, you certainly had a busy day." She responded, toneless, before taking back her sitting position on the sofa. "How's your future mistress?"

"A bit recalcitrant, but she'll come around." Shinichi responded, before adding. "I'm surprised that you are not asking me any details about Elijah?"

"The day you'll spoke to me about his death, I'll be interested to listen, until then; my alliance is with you, Shinichi." She responded to him, while shrugging her shoulders in indifference.

"I don't expect anything less sister, especially since you've betrayed me in the past because of that man, and that he had caused your own death." He responded, while grabbing her wrist forcefully. "I'm just making sure that you are not forgetting about these facts, if ever your heart would want to rekindle a past romance."

"You're hurting me!" She mumbled, angrily, between her teeth, while trying to free herself of his grip.

"Well…How unkind of me then?" He responded, before letting go of his grip on her.

She rubbed her wrist, before standing on her feet again, and walking to reach the panoramic window.

"Tell me, is the spell ready?" Shinichi asked his sister, while rubbing his hands nervously together.

"The witch almost succeeded today. One or two more days and she told me that she would be able to put it together." Misao answered her brother, while turning on herself and smiling. "Can you believe this? It won't be long now, Shinichi."

Shinichi raised on his feet, before reaching Misao's standing position while cupping her face in his hands and sliding his fingers on the scar on her cheek.

"It's coming, Misao…Soon, very soon, we'll be the Masters of the universe, like it was planned since the beginning of time."


	11. Rome - Part 1

The large crowd of the elite guests' list walked from their parked limousines toward the stairs of the entrance of the Lockwood mansion, arm in arm, with the men dressed in their impeccable black or white tuxedos, and their escorts dressed in their luxurious, colourful ball gowns, while passing the threshold and being welcomed by numerous Circus characters, through: mimes, magicians, ballerinas, clowns, fire-eater, conjurers, and many more.

Carol Lockwood stood with her perfect hostess smile at the entrance of her home, wishing all of them a warm welcome, while thanking the guests for accepting this last minute invitation by this intriguing new business man named: Arian Satō, their real host of this flamboyant and unusual evening. She shook their hands one last time, offering a glass of premium champagne, and directing them toward the Circus tent placed in the garden.

Elijah entered the Lockwood mansion, while pulling on the sleeves of his impeccable tuxedo vest, straightening his bowtie, before rapidly scattering the premises. Several Japanese guards were guarding the four cardinal points of the mansion, at the main entrance and every exit possible. He raised his head, while seeing Carol walked toward him, with a big smile plastered on her face.

"Elijah, It's such a pleasure to see you back in Mystic Falls." Carol exclaimed, while handing her right gloved hand to him.

"Carol you're without a doubt the most charming hostess my eyes have ever met." Elijah replied, charmingly, while hand kissing her hand through the fabric of her glove.

"And you're as always a perfect gentleman." She replied, while returning his smile, and lowering her flushed cheeks. "Thank you for accepting this last minute invitation."

"I felt obligated to respond to this lovely invitation; actually, I've known the host for a very long time now." Elijah replied, while noticing Damon and Stefan standing positions near the threshold of the study room. They were nodding their heads discretely in his direction.

"That is certainly explaining the enthusiasm of Mr. Satō to have you and your family be part of this evening." Carol replied while titling her head.

"Well, thank you for the invitation." Elijah replied politely, before sliding a hand on her left forearm, and murmuring near her ear. "If you'll excuse me, Carol?"

"Certainly, Elijah…" She responded, while smiling and nodding her head in respect.

Elijah walked toward the standing position of the Salvatore brothers, before grabbing a glass of champagne on a silver platter.

"So, Grandpa, you have a soft spot for clowns and the circus life now?" Damon whispered in the Original ear.

"Well, as for the clown goes, I'm talking to you, aren't I?" Elijah replied, tit for tat, while addressing Damon a devilish smile.

"Mm..." Damon mumbled, angrily, while showing a sour face, under the growing amusement of his brother. "Aren't you a cheering party tonight, Elijah?"

"Where are the others?" Elijah asked Stefan, before turning his head toward the vampire's standing position, while disregarding Damon usual unfriendly attitude.

Stefan nodded his head, before inviting Elijah to enter the study room.

Elijah passed the threshold of the said room, with the Salvatore brothers on his heels, while scattering the room, and quickly noticing the presence of Elena, Bonnie, Caroline and Rebekah, his own sister, all placed at different corners of the large room.

"Where's Mister Donovan?" Elijah asked the group.

"I can assure you that Matt will be here. He's been delayed at work." Elena replied, while making Rebekah raise her head in her direction. Elena timidly smiled to Elijah before adding. "You've asked of us to be all present tonight, and to stay together as close possible." Elena added.

"Good evening Elena, you look lovely as always." Elijah commented, while returning a smile to her. She lowered her flushed cheeks at the same time making Damon winced, and Rebekha rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "It's easier for me to anticipate Shinichi next step of action, while knowing that you are all together, under the public eyes." He added.

"Talking about missing guests from the list of invitees, where is your delightful brother, the Alpha hybrid?" Damon asked the Original, while crossing his arms in front of his chest, before adding. "Because, let me be clearer than crystal water, Grandpa. We are all in danger of being exterminated, by a: "I came from the sky" Kitsune named: Arian Satō, if ever he decides to kill Klaus for his amusement and vendetta against you and your family. Call me crazy, but it is not in my agenda to die anytime soon and especially not tonight!"

"You're as pretentious and stupid as ever, Damon. I had actually some reserve and doubts about you for the longest time. I never actually thought that you would reach the magnificent Ripper stage of your brother. But, I had some hope that you would become, with time, and good teaching, one heck of a bloody vampire. In reverse you became a pathetic love puppy, who's all supernatural being and existence is essentially to save his damsel in distress. I predict, my young friend, that in no time you will surely drink blood from a plastic bag – Pathetic!" Klaus announced himself, while entering the study room, before standing in front of Damon, arms crossed in front of his chest, with his intense gaze drowned into the one of the young vampire.

Damon growled while rushing in his vampire speed toward the Hybrid, before pushing Klaus on the opposite wall, being held in place, a second later, by a firm grip of his brother.

"Let go of me, Stefan!" Damon yelled, while squirming to free himself. "I need to finish him for good!"

"Don't be stupid, Damon. We can't kill him, and you know it!" Stefan replied, while tightening his grip.

"Enough!" Elijah exclaimed, while pushing his right hand on Klaus's chest by holding his brother in place, forbidding him to retaliate on Damon. "You're acting childishly and foolishly Niklaus, get a grip on yourself."

Klaus raised his chin, while narrowing his sight in Elijah's, before pushing his brother hand away from his chest and pulling on each side of his tuxedo vest.

"Well, it was without a doubt, pretentious of my part, but, you should know by now, Elijah that the party won't start until I walk in, Kitsune or no Kitsune." Klaus replied, mockingly, before raising his sight in direction of Caroline's standing position near the window. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest, a disappointed glimpse in the deepness of eyes. She was wearing a silk red dress. "Caroline?" He whispered, while drowning his stare in hers.

She stared at him for a few seconds, before shaking her head and turning her sight back to the window, while avoiding the stares of her friends, and surely the many questions they had about her obvious feelings about the hybrid.

"You are still running after the unreachable, Klaus?" Damon mocked openly, while glancing at Caroline.

"You surpassed it by running after your brother's girlfriend, would you say, Damon?" Klaus responded, with a pernicious smile.

"Can we forget about your girls problems and come back to the fact that a Kitsune wants to eliminate the vampires specie, with the courtesy of the dagger created by our mother dearest." Rebekah exclaimed, while crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Rebekah is right. It's time to put aside our differences and become allies to put an end on Arian Satō control over our destiny." Stefan said, while nodding his head.

"It's certainly the only logical way of acting in this present situation, and I thank you for putting your trust in us, Stefan." Elijah replied, while nodding his head in respect toward the young vampire.

"Well, well, well, my Ripper friend who wants to join force with me again. Like old time, mate, would you say? Do you remember, Chicago, 1920'?" Klaus replied, in a sarcastic tone of voice, while crossing his arms in front of his chest and drowning his sight in Stefan's.

"Klaus, this period of our life is long gone now, and behind us for good and any resilient friendship, between us, is dead." Stefan replied, while raising his chin in the air in a confrontational gesture. "I want to protect Elena and all my friends, and if I need to ally with you and your family to reach that goal, I'll do it, but don't think that it means anything else."

"Whatever you say, Stefan, who am I to contradict you." Klaus replied, smirking. "And I am all for Elena staying alive and being saved by all cost. After all, she is a mean to an end as to create my future army of hybrids, or did you forget about that fact my good friend?" He added, slyly.

"How could we ever forget that part?" Damon asked, sarcastically, before adding. "Just know that you will have to pass through me to achieve this goal of yours."

"Klaus will compel or kill for the only purpose of his army of hybrids … Not a single friendship…" Caroline said, while drowning her sight in Stefan's. "Or strong feelings of a love one…" She added more, while glimpsing at Rebekah. "Will make him loose that goal, am I right, Klaus?" Caroline surprised everybody by asking him that question.

"I don't know, Love? Are you? And more important, are you willing to find out?" He asked, while staring directly into her eyes.

Caroline blushed intensively, while lowering her head, before adding:

"Un-sired Tyler and I'll be able to give you the benefit of the doubt." She finally answered him.

"Oh yes: "Tyler", the eternal object of your affection, and your one and only true love." Klaus replied, dryly.

"If I can help with my witch power tonight, please let me know?" Bonnie asked Elijah, as a welcomed diversion, while shrugging her shoulders to Elena.

"Thank you, Miss Bennett, but Shinichi is not one who would act impulsively in front of so many witnesses. Tonight is simply a majestic set up for some kind of message that he wants us to intercept. We just need to be careful, stay on our guards at all cost, and in a very close proximity." Elijah replied to Bonnie, while nodding his head.

"I'll let you babysit them Elijah, you have the fingering and touch for that specific task." Klaus added, while taking a glimpse at Caroline, before adding. "Maybe tonight you'll find what you've been looking for so long, Caroline." He added, with a veil of sadness in his eyes, before stepping out of the room and leaving her speechless.

A death silence fell into the room, disturbed a few seconds later by the creaking sound of the leather desk chair, before seeing Tyler appear in front of the group. They all turned their heads in synchronisation, speechless expressions plastered on their faces, while noticing his hiding presence in the room. Tyler rose on his feet, while drowning his sight in Caroline's, before smiling to her.

"It's me, it's really me, and I'm back." He said to the blonde vampire, before handing his right hand to welcome Caroline into his arms.

"Tyler?" She asked, while putting her hands around his face. "You're back…I mean as you…You're not sired anymore, I can't see it in your eyes."

"I'm not, Caroline….I'm not!" Tyler replied, while hugging her tightly in his arms.

Damon turned his head to face Elijah.

"Klaus un-sired him, what the hell happened for him to do that?" He asked the Original, completely dumfounded.

"Klaus released Tyler from his sired bond very reluctantly, under my order." Elijah replied, while rubbing his hands together, and exchanging a quite glimpse with Caroline. "I've asked my brother to free Mister Lockwood of his compulsion. Having Mister Tyler in this state of mind could have been lethal with the presence of the Kitsune." He explained, while not giving any more clarity to his explanation.

"What do you mean it would have been lethal?" Elena asked, dumfounded, while rising on her feet and smiling to Tyler. "Nice to have you back, Tyler."

"Like this wolf dog would be of any help now that he is free of my brother sire bond over him?" Rebekah exclaimed, while rolling her eyes to the ceiling.

"Rebekah, behave yourself!" Elijah ordered his sister, before adding. "The Kistune specie has the power of over taking a compulsion done by a vampire, more so, an Original. Don't forget that they were created in the beginning of time to keep an eye over the new species created on this earth. Therefore, they can't reverse the compulsion, or make a new one to the one already in place." Elijah explained to them.

"So this means that they could easily go against a witch power?" Bonnie asked, with a speechless expression, before seeing Elijah nods his head in affirmation.

They all stared into each other's eyes, while realizing that Arian Satō was once more proven to be more of a threat than firstly anticipated.

* * *

"Matt, please?" Rebekah screamed, while rushing behind him in one of the corridor of the Lockwood mansion. "You've been avoiding me, talk to me?"

Matt turned around on himself, before facing the Original sister and pointing a finger at her.

"Leave me alone, Rebekah." He ordered, while reprising his walk.

"Why? Why are you avoiding me since your arrival?" She asked, while grabbing his left forearm. "Elijah asked for us to stay in close proximity, especially with Shinichi presence in these walls."

"Don't touch me, please." He said, while un-grabbing her hand.

"What did I do, have at least the decency to tell me?" She demanded, while holding her pace, and feeling tears fill her eyes.

"You lied." He exclaimed, while holding his own walking pace, but without turning around to face the Original.

"I…I don't know what you're saying to me now?" She replied, while shrugging her shoulders.

"Really, you don't?" He asked, before turning his body around to face her. "What about lying about the compulsion that Caroline did on me, what about lying on the fact that we, you and I, actually never slept together, are you still not aware of what I am talking about, Rebekah?" He asked, dryly, while tilting his head.

"I …. How … I mean…How did you find out?" She asked, while nervously rubbing her hands together.

"Caroline came through, she simply reversed the compulsion and now I remember everything." He informed her, while shaking his head with a single tear rolling on his cheek. He swept it away with a sudden movement of his right hand. "I bet you had a good laugh at my expense?"

"No! I'm …. Listen to me, please…I'm so sorry … I did it because…" She tried to explain, before being cut in her apology.

"Spare me the pity party, would you?" Matt replied, while shaking his head in disgust.

"It's her fault, its Caroline fault, it's her who put the compulsion on you … I had nothing to do with it…You have to believe me…" She stammered through her explanation.

"I don't give a fuck which of the two is responsible or not. You lied to me, Rebekah, you took something so personal between a man and a woman and you lied to my face, for your own amusement of the moment." He angrily added to her. "But don't worry, I'm equally disgusted by you and Caroline and I don't want either of you in my life."

"Let me explain, I swear to you that I had your best interest at heart." Rebekah begged, while sniffing her tears.

"I would not even be here, present at this stupid evening, if Elena had not begged me to be here, for my own safety. How truly hilarious is that, after what you and Caroline did to me?" Matt exclaimed, while gesturing with his arms and hands. "I actually wish that this Kistune would be able to make you all vanish into the thin air."

"You don't mean that." Rebekah whispered, while shaking her head and crossing her arms in front of her white silk dress.

"I actually do … "Matt replied, while biting into the inside of his cheeks, before leaving Rebekah standing alone with a broken heart in the middle of the corridor.

* * *

Arian Sato walked into the study room, before slowly closing the door panel behind his back and turning his attention toward the man who was standing in front of the bar. He pulled on his white tuxedo sleeves, while smiling, before taking a few steps toward his guest.

"I am beyond grateful to Carol Lockwood for lending me her estate in such gently manners." He said out loud, while smirking. "But mostly grateful for your family and friends presence. The main event is about to start, I hope you'll be present to watch it?"

"It took long enough for you to find me?" Elijah replied, while pouring Scotch into two crystal glasses.

"Why rush toward the inevitable, my old friend?" Shinichi replied, while approaching Elijah's standing position in front of the bar, his hands placed behind his back.

"Would you care to join me for a glass of Scotch?" Elijah asked, while turning on himself and handing a glass to the Kitsune.

"Certainly, Elijah" Arian replied, while taking the glass from the Original's hand and nodding his head as a thank you gesture, before taking a sitting position on a leather armchair.

"So, impressive staging, I'm actually quite surprised, Shinichi." Elijah said, while joining the Kitsune, and taking a sitting position, in front of his enemy.

"Please call me Arian….And…Are you, Elijah? But you already know my unconditional love for the theatrical." The Kitsune replied, while sipping his glass.

"True enough … You always loved the aspect of making a huge spectacle." Elijah agreed, while gulping his own glass.

"I am fortunate enough to recreate a few of the sketches that my family were giving in the past, in Egypt. You remember, Elijah?" Arian asked.

Elijah raised his head, and drowned his sight in the one of Shinichi's, before nodding his head.

"I actually do, you were actually very talented back in the days." Elijah added, truthfully.

"Misao was giving the best performances. She was quite a dancer. You remember that part also, Elijah?" Arian asked for the second time, while titling his head.

Elijah sighed, while keeping his stare on his glass and keeping quiet.

"I find quite a resemblance between the lovely Miss Elena Gilbert and my sister, would you say, my friend? Same long hair, same fragile and thin silhouette. It seems to be something that you are attracted to in a woman." Arian insisted. "Or am I mistaking?"

Elijah rose on his feet, before walking toward the bar, and pouring more Scotch into his glass.

"Misao was indeed quite a talented dancer." Elijah finally replied, toneless.

"Unfortunate that she had to die in such a horrible way, I miss my sister." Arian added, while gulping the rest of his glass. "Yours is lovely, as well." He added.

Elijah tensed, while closing his fists in anger.

"I'm asking you to leave Rebekah alone and outside of our differences, Arian." Elijah warned, calmly.

"Like you left my sister outside of all our differences?" Arian replied, before rising on his feet and handing his empty glass to Elijah. "You'll have to excuse me; I will try to find the lovely Caroline Forbes, to give her my regards and appreciation of her presence, before the main attraction of the night …. I'll see you there...Hopefully?" He added, while smirking and nodding his head in respect, before walking toward the door and leaving the room.

* * *

"You'll miss the main event if you escape so easily, my exotic flower." Caroline heard "his" voice, while freezing all our movements, with her hand place on the banister and her foot on the first stair.

She closed her eyes, while taking a deep breath into her lungs to calm herself down, before turning on herself and facing her interlocutor.

"Good evening, Mister Satō." She greeted him, while raising her chin. "It is in fact a very unusual Circus spectacle that you are giving to your guests. What was the purpose of all of this exactly?"

"Why so formal, Caroline?" Shinichi asked, before climbing a few stairs in her direction. "You look beautiful tonight by the way, a mix of lethal and innocence at the same time." He added, while passing the back of his right hand on the red lace just above her neckline, his sight sliding on the curves of her breasts.

She grabbed his wrist, while pushing his hand away from her body.

"A simple touch of my hand creates such turmoil inside of you?" He murmured to Caroline, while slowly bending his body near hers, his sight lost in Caroline's, before raising his hand and caressing with the tip of his fingers, the outline of her lips.

Caroline turned her head to avoid his touch, while swallowing a lump in her throat and feeling a cold shiver of fear passing through her spin.

"Avoiding my touch won't change the inevitable, my sweet Caroline." He murmured his lips near her left ear.

"You're delusional if you think that I will bend in front of you to please the sick fantasy that you have about me." She mumbled angrily between her teeth.

"You know that I fantasize about you, don't you? How unexpected, Caroline." He whispered, near her right ear. "I'm never delusional, instead, I plan, I conquer, and I always obtain what I desire the most. And as for you bending in front of me, you'll bend … Eventually…When the time will be right." He added, making Caroline turn her head to drown her sight in his.

"I'll prefer for you to enter a dagger in my heart." She responded, with a feeling of nausea.

Arian suddenly turned his head at the call of the music in the garden.

"If you will excuse me, my host duty is unfortunately calling me. It was a pleasure to see you again, sweet Caroline. Please, don't miss the main attraction that is about to start." He said, before nodding his head in respect, while leaving her breathless on the stairs.

* * *

**"My friends Welcome!"**

Arian Sato exclaimed in the microphone, while standing in the middle of the scene, under the big circus tent, with the loud and enthusiastic applause of the crowd. He joined his hands together, while making a reverence of appreciation, before patiently waiting for the slow-down of the applause.

**"My name is Arian Satō, and I am your host for this eventful evening. I would like to thank Carol for her warm hospitality, and for lending me her estate, while giving me the opportunity to present to you this circus spectacle. From your loud applauses I can certainly presume that you are enjoying yourselves with the few acts that were presented to you since the beginning of this evening."**

"I guess we're about to discover the purpose of this entire charade." Damon murmured near Elijah's left ear, while standing beside the Original, arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Or at least we could finally know if our faith is writing in the stone by this man." Stefan added, while arching one eyebrow.

"More or less, you could say that." Elijah replied, before narrowing his sight on Shinichi, while listening to the continuation of his speech.

**"From Morocco to India…From Egypt to Africa…My ancestors traveled the world as gypsies, conquering the land with their flamboyant spectacles as dancers, conjurers, mimes, fire eaters. Their swords fights were known and respected in every country they'd travelled. And it is very humbly, that I've tried to recreate, this spectacle for your behalf tonight."**

Elijah turned his head, while scattering the group of vampires and humans standing by his side. "Where's Miss Forbes?"

"She was by my side a short moment ago; she said she was going to the restroom." Tyler replied to Elijah, while scattering the crowd.

"You want me to go look for her?" Elena asked, suddenly worried.

"I'll go." Tyler proposed, while nodding his head to Elena.

"No!" Elijah ordered. "Stay by my side both of you. We're about to finally understand the ultimate reason of our presence in these walls tonight."

"What about being forced to be here?" Matt replied, while wincing in anger, under the watchful eyes of Rebekah. "And who cares where Caroline is. I prefer to have her far away from me actually."

Elijah frowned in surprise at Matt say, while taking a rapid glimpse at Elena, who shrugged her shoulders, lost in all of this as much as he was.

"Matt, please…I want to speak to you…We need to discuss what happened?" Rebekah whispered, near Matt's ear, while sliding a hand on his right forearm.

"Well, I don't need or want to discuss anything with you, Rebekah! Not now, not later…Not ever!" Matt replied, before grabbing her hand and pushing it away from his arm.

**"Now it is my privilege to present you the main event of this evening. And do not be fooled, because after all an illusion can only be an illusion."**

An unexpected explosion, set under special effects occurred on the scene, with a white, tick smoke, blurring the sight of the spectators, under their exclamations of surprise. Arian Sato had disappeared in front of the audience.

"Isn't it extraordinary, would you say?" Carol Lockwood asked Elijah, while approaching his standing position, with a glass of champagne in her hands.

"It certainly has a certain appeal to it." Elijah replied politely, while keeping his sight focused on the stage.

The Circus tent fell into darkness, under the surprise exclamation of the guests.

A blue spot light illuminated the center stage. A young, fragile, feminine silhouette bent to the ground.

She was wearing a transparent black Indian costume. A veil placed on her head, and over her face.

Her long, flamboyant, black hair over her shoulders, in a glorious cascade. Her hands joined in a prayer to the Gods.

Elijah took a step forward, his sight narrowed on the silhouette, while putting his hands on each side of his waist.

"What is it?" Damon asked, while observing the reaction of the Original.

"I…. I have a feeling of déjà vu." Elijah replied to the vampire.

"What do you mean? Elijah?" Rebekah asked, with only the silence as a response, before turning her sight on the stage.

A man with a turban on his head walked up toward the position of the young woman, before screaming:

**"She is mine!"**

Repeating several times:

**"I only seek the truth"**

The young woman rose on her feet, and twirled several times, like a ballerina.

She finally stopped all her movements, with her hands joined together, her head rose, before starting to dance and sing at the same time, in a Bollywood style:

**Chamma Chamma re Chamma Chamma**

**Chamma Chamma baaje re meri Paejaniyaan**

**Re chamma chamma baaje re meri paejaniyaan**

**Tere paas aaun teri, saanson mein samaun...**

**Chamma Chamma re Chamma Chamma**

**Chamma Chamma baaje re meri paejaniyaan re**

Arian Sato suddenly appeared on stage, dressed in an Egyptian combat costume, while holding in his hands two swords, this, under the wild enthusiastic screams and applauses of the crowd.

The ballerina stopped all her movements and song lyrics. She stared into the eyes of the Japanese man.

She, then, grabbed in her hands one of the swords he threw at her, under the exclamation of surprise of the invitees.

"It can be!" Elijah exclaimed, in shook, while shaking his head in disbelief, before passing a nervous hand over his face.

"Ok, Elijah, you're freaking me out now. What is going on?" Rebekah asked him, with the all group attention centered on him.

"Man, I'm not in the mood for another of your supernatural surprise. Shit! Tell us what is going on!" Matt exclaimed, while closing his fists in anger.

Shinichi and the ballerina girl exchanged a few blows of swords, presented under an orchestrated chorography.

They screamed and battled, and suddenly the girl pulled her veil away from her face.

"It's her…" Elijah whispered, speechless and motionless.

"Elijah for God sake, what is happening? Who is she?" Stefan asked him.

The young woman stopped all her movements, before humming harmoniously the sound:

**"Oooooo….Ou….Ouooooooo…."**

She took in her hands what seemed to be a silver sphere. Arian Sato joined her in the middle of the platform, while holding in his hands one of the other silver spheres, before yelling:

**"Rise family, rise!"**

In a time of a few seconds, five other Japanese fighters, female and male, joined them on the stage, while all holding a sword in one hand and a silver sphere in the other.

" **I present to you…"**

Arian Sato shouted, proud of himself, while staring into Elijah's eyes.

**"…The entire Satō family."**

He finally presented the members of his family, under an explosion of lights, special effects, and the wild applauses of the guests reunited under the circus tent.

"Elijah what the fuck is going on?" Matt asked, one more time, while grabbing the arm of the Original that was standing by their side, expressionless and motionless.

"Elijah, this is my mother's estate, if all these people are in danger, you need to tell me?" Tyler mumbled, angrily, between his teeth.

"Let me try." Elena suggested, while positioning herself in front of the Original sight. "Elijah…Look at me, what is going on?" She asked gently, while cupping his face in her hands.

"It can't be … They can't be alive…It's impossible." Elijah mumbled, in complete incoherence and shock.

"Whom are you talking about?" Rebekah asked him, in the verge of a nervous breakdown.

"The Seven Kitsunes, they are all alive…Misao is alive…" He whispered, before drowning his sight in the one of Elena.

"What?" Damon exclaimed, in total shock, before adding. "What do you mean they are all alive? But you've told us they were all dead!"

Stefan and Bonnie stared at each other, with speechless expressions plastered on their faces, while realizing the gravity of this news.

"We're screwed!" Matt exclaimed, before closing his eyes, with his hands placed on each side of his waist.

Elijah snapped out of it, before turning his head toward the group.

"Find my brother and Miss Forbes…" He asked, before adding as an order. "…Now!"

* * *

Matt angrily pushed the door of the study room open, while standing in the dark for a few seconds, before slamming the panel close with a loud noise. He paced back and forth while nervously passing a hand through his locks.

He needed some time alone; he needed to calm himself down before rejoining this joke of a party. When his human life had become so complicated? Yes! Now he remembered when, it was when the Salvatore brothers had appeared in Mystic Falls and ruined all his chances of having a normal one. He was happy back in the day with Elena. Life was uncomplicated, and normal.

He passed a hand over his face, while closing his eyes, and sighing loudly before finally hearing the door open and close behind his back.

"What else do you want from me, Rebekah? Aren't you able to understand a clear message for once in your life? I don't want you near me." He whispered, knowing by instinct that she had followed him.

"But I want you … I always have…And I probably always will…" She murmured, in a very low whisper. "Maybe we could try to find Caroline and my brother together?"

"I don't give a fuck about these two, and I'm not a puppet that is available to satisfy your fantasy of the moment. I'm human and I have real human feelings inside of me." He busted, in anger, while hitting his chest with his closed right fist.

"I know …. I know … That is why I wanted…" She tried, once more to explain.

"Please go … If you have any decency left in you, leave me alone … I beg you?" Matt added, while showing the door to the Original.

Rebekah closed her eyes, being taken herself into a whirlwind of mixed feelings, wrapped in pain that strangely felt familiar to being human. She reopened them, while sliding her clutch bag on top of a console table, before lowering the straps of her dress and sliding the side zipper of her dress down.

"What are you doing?" Matt exclaimed, dumfounded and in total shock.

Rebekah let her dress slide on her body curves, dropping the silk fabric at her feet, before raising her silver sandals away from the pile, while slowly and suggestively walking, in her white silk and lace underwear, toward Matt.

"Stop this!" Matt added, while shaking his head and grabbing her wrists.

"Stop what?" Rebekah asked, while gluing her body to his, her head rose to drown her sight in Matt's, her wrists prisoner of his firm grip on her.

"I don't want to hurt you, but if I have to, I will." Matt warned, while keeping his chin up.

"You wouldn't, Matt." She replied, while sliding her trembling lips on the left side of his neck.

"Don't…" Matt whispered, while closing his eyes and trying to push Rebekah away from her too close proximity of his own body.

"I want you, if this is my last moments alive; I want them to be with you." She whispered, while sliding her lips to the left corner of his lips.

"No….No, no…" Matt exclaimed, before forcefully pushing the Original on the opposite wall, while making her winced under the impact.

"Matt Donovan likes it rough after all, I don't care, and I just want to be with you." She replied, while grabbing both sides of his tuxedo vest, before sliding her hands underneath it and pushing the fabric on his arms, to let if fall on the floor.

"Don't push me, Rebekah…I've told you "no" already!" Matt mumbled, angrily, between his teeth, while pushing all the objects placed on a near desk on the floor, before sliding his hands underneath Rebekah's bottom, elevating and sitting her on the desktop. "I said no!"

"No, I think you're saying yes!" Rebekah murmured, while raising her trembling hands to open his shirt.

Matt growled, before drowning his sight in Rebekah's, pushing forcefully her arms on the wall, with a firm grip of his hands around her wrists, while pushing her legs apart and evading her private space, before lowering his chest and crashing his lips on the Original.

She moaned with pleasure, while feeling his tongue invading her warm and moist mouth, in another growl of contentment of finally gaining what she had wanted to have since such a long time.

Matt let go of his grip on her arms, before getting rid of his man shirt, throwing it on the floor, while feeling Rebekah's hands frantically opened the belt of his pants, and slide his zipper down…His lips at a near inch of hers, blowing with his breath, his humanity into her.

He slowly put his hands on her thighs, while sliding them upward before pulling gently on her lace panties, letting it drop on the floor, her own hands pushing down the remaining of his own clothes. He laid Rebekah on the glass desktop and pushed its hard self between her legs, into her wet walls, in rhythmic thrusts known by mankind since millennium, under the deep breathing and loud moan of pleasure of Rebekah, while feeling her nails entering the skin of his back.

* * *

The luxurious master bedroom was immersed in the darkness of the night, with only a few rays of the exterior lights entering through the lace curtains to illuminate the four walls space. The hybrid was standing in front of the said window, while holding a bottle of Bourbon in his right hand, his stare lost in the night, hearing the theatrical music and noise of applauses from the crowd under the Circus tent placed in the Lockwood garden, in front of his sight.

He raised his right hand that held the bottle to his mouth, before gulping a large amount of alcohol, while closing his other hand with anger. He turned on himself, before growling and throwing the bottle toward the opposite wall, hitting it in a shrill noise of broken glass, before growling more, and throwing a chair on the wall, holding suddenly his movements, all his vampire senses in alert, while turning his head in a reflex toward the closed door, feeling another presence in the room, hearing a small sigh of fear…an almost none perceivable sound.

"It's me." Klaus heard Caroline's voice. "So I see it's here you've been hiding all this time."

"Go away…Leave me alone, Caroline….I could easily hurt you now." He mumbled, angrily, between his teeth, while staggering over the broken pieces of glass left on the floor from, before grabbing another bottle on the top of a dresser. "Your boyfriend family has a nice stock of good bottles in their cellar." He mocked.

"You could never hurt me." She said, while making him startled in surprise. "What are you doing, pitying yourself? It's pathetic Klaus." Caroline asked, while rubbing her hands together.

"Pathetic? I'm pathetic? You're missing the show of your future Japanese lover, sweetheart….If you hurry up you could easily catch it." Klaus mocked, before snapping the cap from the new bottle, and gulping its content. "Oh wait, at this time, you must be in your happy reunion with your boyfriend, the werewolf / hybrid?" He added, before bursting into a cynical laughter.

"You're drunk." Caroline replied, dryly, while crossing her arms in front of her chest, before stepping out of the shadow and taking a few steps into the ray of light.

"You're not scared of the big bad hybrid, Love?" Klaus wondered, while raising his bottle in the air. "You want a mouthful of the bottle?"

"You always love to self-destruct, don't you? You love to dwell in your solitude?" She replied to him. "I thought we were friends? I thought I could help you?"

"We are everything but friends, sweetheart. And as for my eternal solitude, it has its sparks of good moments." He replied, sarcastically, while raising the bottle, before gulping some more.

"Why?" She abruptly asked.

Klaus raised his head, while drowning his sight in Caroline's, before wiping his mouth with the back of his right hand.

"Why "What", Love?" He asked, shrugging.

"Why did you un-sired Tyler … You had one more date left?" She asked, with a veil of disappointment in her eyes.

"Isn't it what you wanted all along?" He replied, while arching his eyebrows. "You wanted for your true love, Tyler, to get back into your arms and bed, or, are you disappointed that you are not in mine instead?"

"I …. I was just surprised of your decision…I would have gone to the end of our deal with you." She added, while lowering her flushed cheeks.

"You were? Why?" He inquired. "Isn't it what you wanted all along?"

"I thought…." She started, before lowering her head and rubbing her hands together.

"You thought? You thought what, Caroline? That my ultimate goal was to bring you in my bed and to make love to you? Keep you for myself? Have you by my side for the eternity?" He rudely asked her. "You were right on everything. The part that you did not see coming is that at some point, you would want the same."

"Don't!" She replied, in anger, while shaking her head and avoiding his sight.

"What? What are you afraid of, Love? Are you afraid of me or are you afraid of yourself more? Are you afraid of the feelings that you've developed for me over the past weeks?" Klaus asked, while dropping the bottle on the dresser, before advancing toward her position, like a predator would toward his prey.

Caroline raised her head, while drowning her sight in Klaus's. He reached her standing position, before letting his sight slide on her dress.

"Did you choose this dress because of me?" He murmured, while slowly raising the back of his hand on the lengths of her arms, in an almost none perceivable caress, creating a range of intense shivers in her entire body.

"Yes…I mean no! Why are you asking me this stupid question?" She murmured, shakily, while swallowing a lump of nervousness in her throat.

"Red is the colour of blood … The colour of the life in our veins …The colour of passion, would you say that it is our colour, Love?" Klaus murmured with his lips touching her ear lobe, while closing his eyes, before sliding his hands on each side of her hips.

"I … Please don't do this…" She begged of him, while closing her eyes and holding on to him, her hands placed on both of his forearms.

"Do what?" He asked her, while slowly lowering his hands at the hem of her dress.

"You need to stop, please…" She begged, while tightening her hands around his arms.

"Why would I stop touching you, when I know that you want this as much as I do?" He murmured, while sliding his hands under her dress, while slowly raising his hands and fabric on her thighs, creating a trail of fire on her shivering skin.

"Oh…." She whispered the sound, while opening her mouth, leaning her head back and moaning sounds of pleasure under his expert caresses.

"Yes…Like that… let, yourself, go in my arms." He murmured, while sliding his manly and warm lips on the right side of her neck, leaving her breathless in his arms, under the gentle caress of his mouth, her head spinning under the perceptible smell of the alcohol.

"Your skin taste so good, Love." He mumbled, his lips now on the skin of her cleavage, while sliding his right hand between her thighs, grabbing gently the delicate part of skin just below her feminine center. "What do we have here?" He murmured as a question, while rising is hand higher, before passing the tip of his fingers between her legs, over the silk fabric of her panties. "Mm… Tell me, are you coming undone so easily for Tyler?"

"Don't, Klaus…" Caroline panted, while sliding her hands in his hair, before pushing his head in a nearer proximity of her skin.

"What if I do this?" He added in a whisper, before sliding his fingers inside the small fabric barrier, before caressing slowly the promised land of heavenly moisture. "Tell me that I am the one you want, not Tyler, not Shinichi…That it is me that you want. Tell me that you're longing for the day that I will slide myself inside of you?"

"No" She moaned, before against her better judgement, elevating her hips to give his hand a better access.

"Yes" He whispered, sliding in an upward motion, the tip of his tongue on the length of her neck, before capturing her lips in a demanding and passionate kiss.

Klaus removed both of his hands from her hot core, elevating one on the curves of her shoulders, before pushing the straps of her dress on her upper arms, while slowly sliding the zipper of her dress down. His head and lips leaning to touch the lace of her red bra, while pushing the fabric of her dress on her waist, before cupping her breasts, and rubbing the tips of his tongues on her hard nipples.

Caroline let a scream of sexual contentment escape from her lips, while pushing his tuxedo jacket down on his arms, on the floor, with her own dress falling over it a second later, before standing in her black lace suspenders.

Klaus lowered his sight on her sexy legs, before opening a few of his shirt buttons, pulling on his tie and throwing it on his right shoulder.

"I'll need it later." He murmured, while smirking, before sweet kissing her lips, kneeling in front of Caroline, sliding his hands upward from her delicate ankles, to the roundness of her calves, to her thighs, before sliding them under the elastic of her panties, while grabbing firmly the tender skin of her behind, bedding his head and slowly passing the tip of his tongue over the silkiness of the panties fabric, reaching the delicate bump of nerves between her legs.

Caroline leaned her head back, with her mouth opened, before letting out the sound of her sexual contentment, her hands grabbing his golden locks, while pushing his head nearer her center.

Klaus raised his head, while smirking at the sight of her most aroused-self.

"Who do you want the most, Caroline? Tell me, Love?" He asked, while rising on his feet, before pulling her in a tight embrace in his arms. "Look into my eyes and tell me?" He demanded.

Caroline opened her eyes through her trembling eyelashes.

"I can't…I can't…."She repeated, numerous times, while passing the tip of her tongue over her bottom lip.

"Oh, my love" Klaus murmured, while raising his hands on her back and unhooking her bra. They suddenly startled at the sound of the bedroom door being abruptly opened.

"Oh my God, you must be kidding me…my eyes!" Damon exclaimed, with a sour expression on plastered his face, before putting his right hand over his eyes, in a dramatic gesture.

"Put this on you!" Klaus ordered a shocked Caroline, while bending his upper body to reach the dress, before handing the fabric to her. "You must have a pretty good excuse Salvatore, to interrupt this, or if I was you I would say my last prayer before dying." Klaus mumbled, angrily between his teeth, before walking toward the vampire, with both of the hybrid's hands placed on each side of his waist.

"The Seven Kistunes are all alive. We are in deep shit! What about this excuse?" Damon exclaimed, while drowning his sight in Klaus's.

"What?" Both Klaus and Caroline exclaimed, in surprise.

* * *

On the motorcycle, her arms around the hybrid's waist, her hair flying into the wind, while scattering the darkness of the night surrounding them on the deserted route, Caroline wondered once more, how she had left behind, all of her present life to follow Klaus toward the unknown.

The city of Rome would answer, soon, all her unanswered questions …


	12. Rome - Part 2 - Final

_**One of the flowers/fruits/vegetables markets of ROME – Italy** _

The young woman was wearing a light blue sundress, with pretty white ballerina shoes. She was carrying a large straw tote bag, a pair of large sunglasses placed on her nose, and her wavy blond hair styled in a loose bun in top of her head.

"Ahhh, Bella signora … Una Rosa per la bella signora?" The flower vendor asked Caroline, smiling.

"No grazie." Caroline replied in Italian, while raising her sunglasses on top of her head, before taking a few walking steps toward the next outdoor fruits vendor, while carrying her tote bag in her hands.

"Ah che peccato…" The man exclaimed, while shaking his head in disbelief and gesturing with his hands, before thinking that it was a shame that such a beautiful woman was not covered with roses, by a man.

"Una dozzina di rose bianche per la signora, per fovor?" A deep English man voice asked the Italian vendor, while handing the man money.

"Ah Signore … Con grande piacere." The vendor responded, while joining both of his hands in approbation, before taking a dozen of white roses placed in a bucket of water, wrapping them in a colourful paper and handing them to Klaus.

"Grazie" Klaus said to the vendor, while nodding his head, before turning to face Caroline, who had a rictus plastered on her lips, and her arms crossed over her chest.

"It's too much." She said, while taking the dozen of roses from Klaus's hand, before sliding the beautiful bouquet in her tote bag.

"What is? A magnificent dozen of roses offered to a magnificent woman who's standing in front of my sight?" Klaus wondered, while curving the corners of his lips into a smile.

"You did so much for me already, Klaus." Caroline admitted, while shrugging her shoulders, before lowering her flushed cheeks.

"Considering that my family put you in this danger in the first place, I don't think so, Caroline." He replied, before sliding a hand on her lower back to push the young vampire in front of his walking path, while creating a range of delightful shivers in her spine. "Come, Love. We'll walk together through the alleys of this market. It's a beautiful day today, the sky is blue, the sun is illuminating your silky blond hair, and it's perfect to walk hand in hand like we were real Italian lovers." He added, while offering his opened palm to Caroline.

"But we're not lovers, Klaus." She replied, before raising one of her eyebrows, while making Klaus lower his head near hers.

"Small technicality, Love, and after all we don't want the Italian population of Rome to believe that I can't take care of the woman who's holding a dozen of white roses in her hands, do you?" He murmured, near her left ear, while titling his head, with an amused rictus showing on the right corner of his lips. "It would be disrespectful to the country that is hosting us, and I don't want any of these Italian lovers to woo you."

"You're unbelievable, and a charlatan if you are playing them for fools!" Caroline exclaimed in laughter, before sliding her delicate fingers in his, while feeling an intense heat invades her entire body.

"I've been called worst." He replied, while winking at her.

He was wearing a pair of beige cargo pants, with a white, V-neck t-shirt, several leather necklaces were dressing his neck, and a pair of white men loafer his feet. Like every morning since their arrival in Italy, he had let his hair dried freely, after a quick shower, with golden locks curling at the base of his neck.

They walked through the alleys of the market, hand in hand, while from time to time, smiling to each other and smelling the scent of fresh fruits. They stopped to buy a few oranges, with the smell of their divine nectar surrounding them.

Klaus grabbed from a small basket, two cherries joined together by their tales, before sliding the small red fruit in his mouth, holding it in place with his teeth, while lowering his head near Caroline's. She startled, before drowning her sight in the hybrid's, before bursting into laughter.

"You can't be serious?" She exclaimed, while putting a hand over her mouth to hide her hilarity.

Klaus lowered his head nearer to hers, while arching one of his eyebrows. She finally rose on her tip toes, before capturing the cherry in her mouth, while holding the little fruit between her teeth.

Their eyes met in an intense and burning gaze, and she felt a warm feeling hitting her stomach in waves of butterflies, a feeling of sweet expression of pure happiness….No! It can't even be…She blushed, before pulling on the tale, and eating the cherry, while taking a step back, away from his too close proximity.

"It's good." She simply said, while lowering her flushed cheeks away from his insistent gaze.

"Isn't it?" He replied, while narrowing his sight on the young vampire.

Caroline withdrew herself from the market tents, directing her walk toward the barricade near the water, before sliding her sunglasses back on her nose.

"This morning, you've left earlier than usual for your morning walk, Love?" She heard him ask, while feeling his presence by her side.

"I… I couldn't sleep…" She replied, shrugging, while taking a small piece of bread from her tote bag, before throwing crumbs to the birds.

"Give me some pieces of this bread." Klaus asked, while presenting his opened palm before addressing to Caroline his most seductive smile.

Caroline returned his smile, while handing him a piece, before looking at him throwing the bread to the flying birds.

"You know, Love, birds never know from one day to the other if they will stay alive to see the next sunrise." Klaus expressed his thoughts, before turning his head toward the young vampire and smiling timidly to her. "But, they always have the strength to continue their life journey."

"Like us." Caroline murmured, while lowering her head, lost herself, in her sad thoughts.

"Like us… I would die before letting anything or anyone hurt you." Klaus admitted, hoarsely.

"But, then it would mean that I would be dead also. I'm linked to you Klaus." Caroline replied, while hiding her amusement.

"You are linked to me in more ways than the one of the blood line, Love, and you perfectly know it. But, you are not ready to honestly admit it to yourself." Klaus replied, while making her blush. "And after all, technicalities are so over rated."

"Maybe…" She replied, smirking.

"I have a surprise for you tonight." He informed, while placing himself in front of her walking path.

"What is it? Tell me." She asked, while clapping her hands together. "You promise to bring me to the small restaurant that we saw the other night: _**Roma Luce**_. Tell me, is it that?"

"Wow! Hold your wild horses, sweetheart, it wouldn't be a surprise if I was telling you, would it?" He replied, while tilting his head, with the biggest smile plastered on his lips.

These past few weeks, in Rome, had shown Caroline the many facets of the hybrid. Klaus was more relaxed, calmer, happier... They had never mentioned, since their arrival in the Italian capital, their intimate encounter the night of the Circus Spectacle at the Lockwood mansion, neither the events that had followed. They had decided to simply live the present time as friends.

But, that previous night was still in their minds like a vivid image engraved in red blood ink...

* * *

_**Mystic Falls – Lockwood Mansion – Two weeks earlier** _

"Oh, my love" Klaus murmured, while raising his hands on her back and unhooking her bra. They suddenly startled at the sound of the bedroom door being abruptly opened.

"Oh my God, you must be kidding me…my eyes!" Damon exclaimed, with a sour expression plastered on his face, before putting his right hand over his eyes, in a dramatic gesture.

"Put this on you!" Klaus ordered a shocked Caroline, while bending his upper body to reach the dress, before handing the fabric to her. "You must have a pretty good excuse Salvatore, to interrupt this, or if I was you I would say my last prayer before dying." Klaus mumbled, angrily between his teeth, before walking toward the vampire, with both of the hybrid's hands placed on each side of his waist.

"The Seven Kistunes are all alive. We are in deep shit! What about this excuse?" Damon exclaimed, while drowning his sight in Klaus's.

"What?" Both Klaus and Caroline exclaimed, in surprise.

"How can this be, Salvatore? They are... or were, whatever ...all presumed dead, and Shinichi was the only survivor?" Klaus exclaimed, while grabbing his tuxedo vest left on the floor, before dressing himself. He gentlemanly positioned himself in front of Caroline to block Damon's view, while she was dressing herself with her red dress.

"I did not receive the memo either. Believe me." Damon mumbled, angrily, between his teeth.

"Where's my brother?" Klaus asked, impatiently, before turning his head to notice that Caroline had finished dressing herself while raising the straps of her dress on her shoulders.

"You're talking about which one of your brothers, Klaus?" Damon asked, sarcastically, while making Klaus roll his eyes. "The one that will tell you a story but nothing will be true after all, named Elijah"?" He added, mockingly, while crossing his arms in front of his chest, under the angry growl of the hybrid. "Ok, easy now King of the hybrids, I'm not sure where he is at the present moment, but he asked of us to find you and your ... What are you exactly to him, Caroline? Are you his sex vampire slave? I thought you had better taste than this, I'm actually feeling sorry for your real boyfriend Tyler ... You remember him?"

Klaus rushed toward Damon's standing position, before being held immobile by Caroline's firm grip on his left arm.

"Klaus, please, let it go… Damon is his usual jerk, it's not like he ever gave me an ounce or respect before." She begged the Hybrid, while making Damon wince.

"Get out of my sight and of my way, Salvatore." Klaus mumbled, angrily, between in his teeth, while grabbing firmly Caroline's hand, before passing beside Damon standing position near the opened bedroom door.

"I wouldn't stay too long in this mansion's walls if I was you two." Damon smirked through his sentence.

"That is exactly what I was thinking about you, if you still want to be alive. I would not stay too long by my side." Klaus added, dryly, while pulling Caroline behind him through the corridors, and toward the stairs.

"Klaus let go of my hand." Caroline ordered the hybrid.

Klaus turned on himself while putting his right foot on the first stairs.

"I need to get you out of here, Caroline. We have no idea what this all spectacle was about, and what Shinichi's next step will be." He explained, firmly, while pulling her toward him.

"I need to find Tyler." She murmured, while pulling her hand away from his.

Klaus winced at the mention of the young hybrid, before sighing to calm himself down.

"I … I mean what just happened in the bedroom… It was a mistake." She mumbled, nervously, while rubbing her hands together. "I …. I am getting back with Tyler now, you have to accept it."

Klaus took a step toward Caroline's standing position, while making the young vampire retreat and reach the wall placed behind her back, before raising her chin to stare into his blue eyes. He angrily hit his closed fists on the wall, on each side of her head.

"Don't push me, Love." He growled. "You're lying through your teeth!"

Caroline shook her head, before swallowing a lump in her throat, in nervousness.

"Maybe we could find a way to be friends?" She suggested, while fearing his reaction.

"Fuck this, Caroline! We can't be friends. It was never about friendship between us, and you know it! You almost gave yourself to me in the bedroom not even five minutes ago." He yelled at her.

"I … I made a mistake, and I'm taking the entire responsibility of my decision…It wasn't you…I wanted to thank you for relieving Tyler of the sire bond, and I felt that I could help you." She mumbled her explanation, incoherently, to him.

Klaus paced back and forth, on the upstairs level, while passing a nervous hand through his tangled hair.

"Well, go then, go meet with your werewolf / hybrid boyfriend." He yelled, while gesturing with his right hand, before suddenly holding his pace and smirking maliciously. "We'll see with time if he will be able to protect you against Shinichi. I, seriously, doubt it with his new sired condition." He replied, deviously, before turning on himself, and walking down the stairs.

Caroline arched an eyebrow, suspiciously, while running after the Alpha, before reaching him and grabbing his right arm.

"What do you mean his new sired condition?" She asked, dumfounded.

"What Love, you seriously thought that I would un-sired him, so easily, and only because my brother have asked this favour of me?" He replied, with a sour tone of voice.

"Reassured me that you un-sired Tyler? If not, then how is it possible that he is acting normal?" She asked, nervously, before closing her eyes. She reopened them, while finally realizing. "Shinichi over took your compulsion over Tyler…You liar!" She yelled, before slapping both of his cheeks with all the strength she got in her.

Klaus stood motionless for a moment, while raising his right hand to his bruised cheek.

"You're despicable; I don't know how I ever thought that you could be different than this." She shouted, in disgust.

"I've told you to never hit me again, Caroline." Klaus warned her, while growling.

"Now, now, children, no foreplay in the stairs, please; it wouldn't be gentlemanly and lady like." Damon mocked, while waving a forbidden finger in front of their sights, before going down the stairs and positioning himself at their side. "If I was you, I would argue another day, and bring my ass outside of this manor. After all; you're the first targets of Shinichi." He suggested, before staring in Klaus's eyes. "Personally, I don't like you very much, but I would like for your pretty ass to stay alive to assure my own survival. As for you Blondie, if you are in need of a new boyfriend, there is a certain Japanese Kitsune that is very interested in you."

Caroline took a last glimpse at Klaus, before running down the stairs.

"I need to find Tyler, he could be in danger." She informed her two interlocutors.

"Yap…She is still unreachable to you, Klaus." Damon mocked, before descending the stairs himself.

Klaus hold motionless, while closing his eyes and fists in anger. This Kitsune had managed to destroy all his future plans with Caroline. Only two solutions sustained in his mind, he thought with a smirk plastered on his lips: _**convincing Caroline to leave Mystic Falls or kidnapping her?**_

* * *

Matt pulled the zipper of his pants up, before dressing of his shirt, while forbidding himself to take a single glance at Rebekah, who was dressing herself behind his back.

"Can we talk?" Rebekah asked, in a low murmur, while passing a rapid hand through her long hair.

"There's nothing to talk about." He mumbled, between his teeth, in a detached attitude.

"What about what just happened between us? Is that nothing?" She wondered, while closing her eyes tightly to forbid herself to cry.

"What is there to talk about?" He asked, shrugging, while buttoning his shirt.

"Matt please, I have feelings for you." She begged him to reconsider, while raising a hand toward his standing position.

"Feelings? Are you kidding me, Rebekah?" Matt asked, before laughing hysterically, while turning on himself to face her. "You, the "Ice Princess", you're having feelings for me? It's hilarious actually, because, the only person that you have feelings for is yourself." He added, harshly. "You wanted to fuck with me, you wanted to know what it felt to be with a human again…Well, it's done…And gladly behind us now."

She took one more step to reach Matt's standing position, before raising her right hand, and slapping him across his left cheek, while leaving him surprised and speechless.

Matt raised his right hand to rub his cheek, before drowning his sight in hers.

"Then let me act like the Ice Princess that I am." Rebekah replied, angrily, before passing the back of her right hand over the tears that were streaming on her cheeks, while grabbing her clutch bag on the console, and slamming the door behind her.

* * *

Elijah frantically searched the downstairs rooms of the Lockwood mansion, while opening, alternately, several doors, without the luck of finding his brother or Miss Forbes behind any of them. One last one, at the far end of a corridor could be where they were hiding, if not, he would have to search the upstairs room. Maybe the others had more chance than him at finding them?

A small crowd of the guests were mingling with a night cap in their hands, the show was over, and Carol was charmingly escorting a few of the invitees to the main entrance, while wishing them a good night.

He opened the door widely, while taking a few walking steps in the darkness of the room, before closing his eyes and passing a nervous hand through his hair.

"You're the same handsome vampire man, Elijah; you did not change a bit." He heard "her" voice addressed itself to him.

Elijah froze all his movements, before turning his head toward a dark feminine silhouette that was lying on the sofa. He took a few walking steps to close the door behind his back, before turning the switch of a lamp placed on a console table.

"Don't turn other lamps on, if you don't mind? My eyes are sensitive to the light now." Misao asked of him, while raising a glass to her lips, before stirring the olives in her Martini.

Elijah approached her sitting position, before sitting in front of the Japanese Kitsune, with his legs crossed and his right hand placed in top of his mouth.

"You want one, there quite good?" She suggested, politely, while raising her glass in the air, before gulping more alcohol.

"No." He simply replied, while keeping his intense stare fixated on the young woman.

She was wearing a long, black lace ball gown; her black hair was falling freely on her bare shoulders, and on her face…But it was without an ounce of a doubt Shinichi's sister, Misao.

"You're quite silent, Elijah." Misao wondered, before pulling an olive in her mouth, while holding it suggestively between her teeth.

"I'm not used to look at a ghost from the past." He replied, while narrowing his sight on her.

"That is very surprising coming from you. We've seen our share of ghosts back in the old days." She responded, while sliding his glass on the living room table, before turning her sight toward the Original. "You've missed me?" She asked.

"You were dead." Elijah replied, calmly.

"I know … It's you who killed me." She replied, while smirking. "You remember, Elijah? Or is it so far in your mind now that you had lost all memories of the event?"

Elijah sighed, while swallowing a nervous lump in his throat.

"So, Shinichi made a deal with the dark forces to bring you and all your siblings back, as I can see? I thought you had decided to never be his slave again?" He asked Misao, unceremoniously.

"As opposed to what, listening to you and being killed by your own hands, Elijah?" She asked, while slowly rising on her legs, before taking a few steps toward Elijah's sitting position. "As we say: "Tit for tat", my sweet Original friend." She added, perniciously, before raising the lace fabric of the dress on her thighs, while revealing to Elijah's sight her black lace suspenders. She raised her left leg, before taking a sitting position, on his lap. Her black hair falling over her face and on his chest, while sliding her hands upward on Elijah's tuxedo vest, around his neck, her breath at a near inch of his lips.

"Did you miss this…Did you miss "us"?" She whispered, while passing the tip of her tongue on his bottom lip and slowly caressing his hair.

Elijah raised his head, while drowning his sight in Misao's, before slowly raising the back of his hands on her bare arms, in an almost none perceivable caress.

"Did you?" Elijah asked in return, while capturing her bottom lips between his lips.

"Ah…Elijah, you were always an insatiable lover." She whispered, while sliding her lips on the left side of his neck, higher on his jaw line, before capturing the lobe of his ear in her teeth. "Tell me that you want me; tell me that you've missed me?" She demanded.

"Oh yes, I want…." Elijah murmured, while sliding his hands on her hips, before grabbing her waist in a firm grip.

"What do you want, Elijah…Is it me?" She asked, hopeful.

"I want, I want …" He whispered repeatedly, before in a loud growl pushing Misao pm the living room table, her back hitting forcefully the glass, with his right hand placed on her throat, while choking her out of breaths.

"What I want is for your pretty ass to stay dead and away from me and my family." He exclaimed with anger, while putting more pressure on her throat. "Unfortunately, you're back, and I presume immortal to this point."

Misao tried to free herself from his grip, while grabbing both of his wrists with her left hand, scratching viciously his face, before kicking her legs in his stomach and projecting the Original on the opposite wall of the room.

"You fool!" She yelled from the top of her lungs, while rising on her feet and rubbing her throat. "You have no idea against what force you will battle, Elijah." She added, before sliding a strand of hair behind her ear. "You see this? You see this scar? It's coming from your hands; it's you who did this to me in the past?" She added, furiously.

Elijah startled at the sight of her disfigured face, while getting back on his feet, pulling on his Tuxedo vest, before seeing the door being open by Elena, who took a few walking steps into the living room.

"Elijah?" Elena exclaimed, with a hand placed over her chest. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, leave, Elena." Elijah ordered the young woman, while passing a handkerchief on the blood that was streaming down his face.

Elena shook her head, before noticing a dark figure in one of the corners of the room.

"What do we have here?" Misao asked, while pointing a finger at Elena.

Elijah speed toward Elena's standing position, before grabbing her right forearm and pushing her behind him.

"Leave her out of this." He warned the Kitsune.

"Well, well, Elijah, is she what you have replaced me with?" Misao asked, smirking, while crossing her arms in front of her chest, tilting her head, before approaching their standing position. "My … My … My …. The perfect replica of Tatia, would you say?"

Elijah winced and frowned at her sentence, before pushing Elena toward the door.

"Leave!" He ordered once more.

"But…I don't want to leave you alone with this woman." She said, while nodding her head discretely toward Misao.

"Don't worry for me, Elena, just leave." He repeated, while grabbing both of her forearms.

"Let me make this easier for both of you." Misao mocked, before walking toward the door, opening it and turning on herself one last time. "Checkmate, my sweet Elijah … Checkmate…" She said with a sadistic smile plastered on her face. "It was a pleasure, Miss Gilbert, be on your guard, he has the ultimate talent of killing the women in his life." She added, dryly, before closing the door behind her back.

Elena closed her eyes, before turning her head to look at Elijah.

"Are you ok? You're bleeding; let me take a look at it?" She exclaimed, while passing the tip of her fingers on the opened wounds.

"Don't worry, it's just a scratch." He informed, before grabbing both of her wrists. "We need to get out of here, find my brother and your friend, Miss Forbes, and then leave this mansion." He suggested, firmly, before pushing Elena toward the door.

* * *

Matt descended the stairs, while putting his tie in place. He suddenly held his walking pace, before raising his head, while feeling a near danger. He stood motionless in the entrance while standing face to face with Shinichi.

"Mr. Donovan, I'm happy you could join us for this eventful night that was entirely put in place for the people of this delightful city." Shinichi addressed him, a sadistic smile plastered on his lips.

Matt put both of his hands on each side of his waist, before shaking his head in disbelief, while taking deep breaths into his lungs.

"You want to do something for this city? Stay the hell away from it and the people who only wanted to live a normal life as human." Matt exclaimed, while pointing a finger toward Shinichi's chest.

"You're fascinating to me, Mister Donovan. You would fight with your bare hands for your race with all that you got of rage inside of you, even if you know that it would cause your own death." Shinichi replied, while crossing his hands behind his back.

"There are good people who did not ask for this supernatural shit to hit them in the face." Matt added, while frowning.

"And I figure that you are one of them?" The Japanese leader replied.

"Leave me out of your sick game." Matt replied, dryly, taking a step toward the entrance door, while suddenly being hit on the head by one of Shinichi's guard, before falling unconscious on the floor.

"You want us to finish him off?" The guard asked his leader.

"No, bring him with us." Shinichi ordered, before adding. "He'll make a good company for my Queen." He added, before letting a smirk spread on his lips.

* * *

"Tyler!" Caroline yelled, while running into the downstairs' corridor.

"Caroline?" Tyler responded, before catching her in his arms.

"Are you ok?" She asked, while holding his face in her hands, before drowning her sight in his.

"Of course I'm ok, are you?" He demanded, while softly caressing her hair.

"Yes, I'm fine. We have to get out of here. You need to tell your mother about Shinichi's involvement with the Originals." She urged him.

"It's ok, Caroline….Shh….Don't worry." He gently murmured into her ear, while continuing to caress her hair. "Come with me, everything will be fine." He added, suspiciously.

Caroline startled, while feeling an intense shiver of fear hitting her spine, before suddenly realizing that Tyler was not the same anymore.

"Ok, but … I'll need to go see Elena for a few minutes to tell her that I am ok." She tried the diversion.

"Elena is fine, you'll be fine too." He added, while forcefully grabbing one of her wrists.

Caroline lowered her sight on her wrist, before raising it back into his dark eyes.

"Tyler, let go of my wrist, please?" She asked, while pulling on her arm.

"Come with me, Caroline, I'll bring you to "him"." He ordered, calmly, while dragging her behind him.

"Tyler…I'm asking you again to let me go!" She mumbled, angrily, between her teeth.

"Let go of her, Tyler!" A loud voice asked him.

Tyler raised his head to take a look at his interlocutor, before noticing the presence of Stefan Salvatore in the corridor. He was standing in front of their standing positions, with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Get out of my way, Stefan. Or I could seriously hurt you." He warned the young vampire.

"Do what you have to do, and I'll do what I have to do, as simple as that, Tyler." Stefan replied, shrugging.

"The Master is waiting for his "Queen"." Tyler added, while nodding his head.

"The Master… really, and who that may be, Klaus?" Stefan asked, while advancing of a few steps to reach them.

"Shinichi, our Master, you should realize that he will do great things for us, Stefan." Tyler replied, still keeping Caroline in close reach with a firm grip of his hands.

"You don't say?" Stefan replied, while shaking his head in astonishment. "Wow! He's a real King then?"

"What do we have here, brother?" Damon asked, while slowly reaching his brother's position.

"We have a bit of a problem on our hands, Damon." Stefan replied, while nodding his head in direction of Tyler and Caroline.

"You don't say." Damon added, while raising his chin in the air. "I figured that much as Tyler is now under the sired bond of our Japanese friend."

"Yap…You got that right." Stefan whispered.

"Now, let me take Caroline to Shinichi and there won't be problem for either of you." Tyler warned, while arching an eyebrow.

"Well, you see, that is not really in our agenda, wolf boy." Damon replied, mockingly, while taking a few additional steps toward Tyler's and Caroline's position, with Stefan by his side. "Now, doggy, doggy, be nice and hand Blondie to us."

Tyler smirked, while raising his chin toward them.

"If I was you two I would worry more about the two Japanese combat men placed behind your backs at the moment." Tyler replied, before pulling on Caroline's left arm and leaving the Salvatore brothers standing side by side in the corridor.

Stefan and Damon turned their bodies around, before facing the two warrior men in front of their sights, all dressed in black, with hoods on their heads.

"Fuck!" Damon mumbled, angrily, between his teeth, while passing a hand through his tangled hair.

* * *

Shinichi pulled a reluctant Caroline on his heels, while reaching the entrance door, before giving orders to his Japanese guards to leave the Lockwood home.

"And where do you think you will go while dragging an innocent victim behind your back, Arian?" Elijah asked, loudly, while suddenly appearing in front of their sights in the entrance.

"Elijah." Both the Kitsune and Caroline exclaimed in surprise. "How delightful of you to offer your goodbye, but we're actually leaving" Shinichi added to the Original.

"I don't believe so." Elijah replied, while shaking his head, Damon and Stefan appearing by his side.

"How delightful, you brought your baby vampires with you." Shinichi mocked, while pushing Caroline toward one of his guards. "I'm surprised that you were able to free yourself from two of my warriors?"

"Well…" Damon smirked, surly, before adding. "I'll need to send you an invoice for my ripped Tuxedo vest, but other than that, your warriors were assholes! Where did you train them?"

Shinichi lost his smile, before yelling an order to one of his guards, who threw a sword to both his leader and Elijah.

"Now, Elijah, why don't we settle this disagreement the old fashion way, should we?" Shinichi suggested, smirking, before making another order in Japanese to his guards.

Damon and Stefan soon received a pair of swords in their hands.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Damon asked, dumfounded, while turning the object in his hands, before seeing one of Shinichi's Japanese warrior rush toward him, with his sword pointed in the vampire's direction

"Oh shit!" Stefan exclaimed, while clashing the metal of his lethal arm with the one of his own assailant.

The combat with swords between the evil force and the supernatural world lasted longer than Shinichi had anticipated that it would. The young vampires were strong and naturally skilful in handling swords. Elijah was as usual an admirable fighter and time had not altered his skill either. But, Shinichi was getting tired of this circus and the precious loss of time.

Caroline on her side, squirmed and fought her way out of her assailant's grip, while scratching, biting, hitting, with all the strength that she got in her. She finally managed to divert his attention, and while changing into her vampire self, bite him till no trace of blood was perceived in the guard's body. She dropped him on the entrance floor of the mansion before raising her head and hearing Elijah yelled at her:

"Outside, Klaus is waiting for you. Go…Now! Leave!"

She reached the entrance door, before turning the handle and rushing down the outside stairs.

Shinichi pushed Elijah on the floor, while immobilizing his enemy with the tip of his sword pointed on the Original's throat. He rushed behind Caroline toward the entrance door, with Elijah, Stefan, and Damon on his heels.

Caroline turned her head alternatively from left to right, right to left, scattering the darkness of the night without seeing Klaus anywhere, finally she heard the loud noise of a motorcycle engine, and saw him appear in front of her sight.

"Caroline!" Klaus shouted to attract her attention.

She looked at him, while putting a hand over her chest, fear plastered on her face, before turning her head and seeing Shinichi reaching the stairs.

"Caroline!" Klaus yelled once more, while revving the engine. "Come, quick…Love!" He ordered her.

Caroline turned her head to take a last glance behind her back, before running toward Klaus's motorcycle, raising her dress and right leg above the rear seat, while taking her sitting position behind the hybrid, with a firm grip of her arms around his waist.

"Hold on tight, Love. We're leaving this shit of a city for good!" Klaus exclaimed, angrily, before pushing his feet on the pedals, in a roar of the motorcycle back tire.

Shinichi turned his mad glare at Elijah's, while approaching his standing position, before raising his chin at him.

"I'll find them. And then, she'll be mine. Mark my words, Elijah! I still haven't decided if your brother will stay alive or not?" He whispered, madly, to Elijah.

"Well, you'll have a hell of a job in front of you, my dear friend. Because, knowing my brother, you'll have the all wide world to search before finding them." Elijah mocked him.

"I'm not worry about that Elijah. I'm eternal, you remember? And I have powerful warlocks and witches at my disposal. Therefore I'll have all the time that I need to fulfil my goal." He responded, with a sadistic smile plastered on his face. "Find my sisters and brothers, we're leaving!" He ordered his guards, loudly, before walking away.

Bonnie, Elena, and Rebekah rushed down the stairs, with all three yelling their concerns at the same time:

"Are you ok?"

"We're fine; we were just playing Karate Kid for a little while." Damon mocked, while lowering his upper body to catch his breath.

"Where's Matt?" Rebekah asked, while looking around her, before sliding a comfort hand on Eiljah's back.

"I thought he was with you?" Stefan asked Bonnie and Elena.

"No, I haven't seen him since the Circus spectacle." Elena replied, while shrugging her shoulders.

"We'll find him eventually." Elijah replied, while nodding his head, before closing his eyes and sighing with relief. His brother and Miss Forbes had finally left Mystic Falls.

* * *

On the motorcycle, her arms around the hybrid's waist, her hair flying into the wind, while scattering the darkness of the night surrounding them on the deserted route, Caroline wondered once more, how she had left behind, all of her present life to follow Klaus toward the unknown.

The city of Rome would answer, soon, all her unanswered questions …

* * *

_**City or Rome – Present time** _

Caroline read the little invitation card one more time:

**Opera of Rome, 20:00**

**A carriage will bring you to me, Love**

**After all, this is our seventh date**

**K.**

She fold the little card in two, while letting a smile spread on her lips, before sliding the paper in her clutch bag, attached to her left wrist. She pushed the red velvet curtain away from her walking path, while entering inside the luxurious opera lodge. She rose with her white gloved hands, the skirts of her long, blue, ball gown dress, before climbing the two last stairs leading her to the Louis XV style, red velvet armchairs. She held her walking pace, while noticing his presence. He was standing in front of the brass railing, in a classic black tuxedo, the back of his hair waving in golden locks on his neck.

She felt her heart miss a beat while holding her breath for a split second, before raising her hand on her chest. When? When did she realize her deep feelings of love for the Alpha man? She couldn't say for certain ... But at this present moment, her heart was beating even faster simply for the fact of his simple presence.

Klaus turned on himself, before noticing Caroline, while holding immobile with his lips parted in an expression of surprise, mixed with his unconditional admiration for her.

"Caroline ...You are magnificent, Love." He murmured, while closing his eyes and feeling his head spin under her beauty. He reopened them, while sliding his sight from her pink cheeks, to her red lips, her deep neckline, the roundness of her breasts, and finally on the long skirt of her dress.

She lowered her flushed cheeks, before addressing him a timid smile, while turning her sight to hide her sudden shyness. He reached her standing position, before taking her chin in his right hand, while elevating her head to drown his eyes in hers.

"La bella signora ha il mio cuore tra le sue mani"

"What did you just say to me in Italian?" She asked, in surprise.

He leaned his head near hers, before sliding his lips near her left cheek, touching her skin of his own, before reaching her left ear, the softness of his mouth now placed on her lobe.

"I just said the sweetest words that a man could whisper to his muse: The beautiful lady has my heart in her hands." Klaus translated, while closing his eyes and breathing her delicate scent. "You smell heavenly."

Caroline reopened her eyes, while slowly raising her head and sight in his blue eyes, before swallowing a lump in her throat. The magic was cut when they were suddenly reminded to take their seats, by the flashing of lights in the opera lodge.

"Should we … Should we take our seats in the lodge?" Caroline mumbled, nervously, while grabbing his forearms to keep her balance, being taken by surprise under a dizzy spell that only Klaus had the secret to provoke in her.

He smiled, before offering his left forearm, laying her right glove hand on the fabric of his tuxedo vest, before leading Caroline to their seats, while seeing their lodge fell into darkness.

* * *

"I don't understand what is happening?" Caroline whispered, while turning her teary sight toward Klaus's. "But it is so powerful to hear them sing."

"Alfredo, Love...The young man who's singing right now." Klaus started to explain, while lowering his head near Caroline's and politely pointing in the direction of the singer. "He falls madly in love with Violetta who's a courtesan. Violetta totally abandons her many lovers to live a crazy passion with Alfredo, but it doesn't rely on the moralizing father of Alfredo, who persuades her, while naming the bourgeois conception of morality, to abandon his son."

"It's so sad." Caroline murmured, while sweeping her tears away from her cheeks.

Klaus raised his right hand, while sliding behind her left ear a strand of hair that was falling from her loose bun.

"Violetta wrote a break-up letter to Alfredo without explaining the real reasons for their separation, breaking the man's heart in return. The disease she was diagnosed reappears, and it is only in the company of her faithful maid that Violetta is dying…Like you're seeing now."

Caroline turned her sight toward the stage, her hands grabbing the iron ramp with all the emotions trapped inside of her, before witnessing the dying act in front of her eyes, tears streaming down her face and neck.

Klaus reached for a handkerchief inside his tuxedo vest, before handing it to the young vampire.

"She has lost the love of her life." Caroline managed to let out the words, while holding the handkerchief near her heart.

"No, love…" Klaus disagreed. "You can't lose the love of your life, each beat of your heart is reminding you that it will live inside of your soul forever…That is what opera is reminding you."

Caroline turned her sight toward the hybrid, while feeling his hands slide under her thighs, elevating her shaking body in his arms, before sitting her on his lap, her head now resting on his chest.

"There, are you feeling comfortable in my arms, Caroline?" He asked, while caressing her hair, and kissing her forehead.

She closed her eyes, while nodding her head, before reopening them to watch the last scene in front of her sight.

"Alfredo learns that she has never stopped loving him, and responsible for their separation is none other than his father. Angry and repentant, he runs toward Violetta, but too late, plagued by consumption, Violetta dies in his arms." Klaus explained the last scene, while closing his arms on Caroline's shivering body, his chin placed in top of her head.

Caroline turned her sight toward the stage, while seeing the scene of Alfredo holding a dying Violetta in his arms. The young vampire let her tears roll on her cheeks, taken by an intense feeling of sadness.

"Klaus…" She murmured his name, while closing her eyes, and grabbing with both hands the side of his collar. "This is the saddest love story I've ever heard."

"I know, Love." He responded, while kissing the top of her hair, his hand caressing the sensitive spot at the base of her neck, before raising her chin to caress her cheeks with the tip of his fingers, while sliding them on the contour of her face, with his thumb caressing the softness of her lower lip. "But, it is also forbidden and passionate at the same time."

Caroline raised her head, while drowning her teary sight in his, before feeling a range of intense emotions hitting her all at once.

"You lips are calling me …" Klaus murmured, while hearing the loud applauses of the audience at the final act. "But a kiss is not what you want, or am I mistaking?"

"Why do you think that?" Caroline whispered, while closing her eyes and waiting to feel the softness of his lips on hers. He suddenly raised her in his arms, before sitting Caroline back on her chair. "What?" She asked, dumfounded, while reopening her eyes.

"We need to pay our respects to the ones who sang this Opera for us." Klaus reminded her, while suddenly showing a distant glare, before clapping his hands and rising on his feet.

Caroline closed her eyes, before reaching the capacity of standing up by herself and clapping in her hands to give her respect to the artists.

* * *

Klaus's tuxedo vest was lying in top of a velvet chair; he had loosened up his silk tie and opened several buttons of his shirt on his muscular chest.

He was now standing in front of the opened balcony door of his private bedroom, his sight drown in the darkness of the city of Rome, one arm placed above his head, while leaning on the arch and holding a bottle of Porto in his other. The bottle was unfortunately not his first.

The luxurious apartment they had rented since their arrival was located in a calm street of the city, in the second floor of a chic and well known bakery.

Caroline was standing behind him, a hand placed over her chest to calm the raising beats of her heart. She had undone her hair bun, and her luxurious blond curls were falling freely on her shoulders. She was still wearing her blue ball gown, but was now walking bare feet.

"Klaus…." She murmured his name, while raising the bottom of her long dress and taking one more step toward his standing position, before holding her pace and nervously rubbing her hands together.

Klaus startled at the call of his name, while closing his eyes, and raising the bottle to his lips, before gulping the alcohol in his throat. He had felt her presence in the room, and all his nerves were tensed to the extreme. The only thing he really wanted was to throw Caroline on the bed, while making passionate love to her all night, under her loud cries of pleasure.

"Leave Caroline or I won't be responsible for my next actions toward you." He warned, while gulping some more.

"I…I only wanted to thank you for tonight. The Opera was beyond what I could have ever imagine….I mean for our last date." She explained to him, while smiling timidly.

"That is all you wanted?" He mocked, while laughing sarcastically, before finishing the Porto bottle.

"What do you mean, Klaus?" She asked, nervously.

"Well, I don't know, Love. Why don't you tell me? Isn't it the first time that you are entering this forbidden bedroom?" He replied, smirking, before leaning his back on the wall, with his arms crossed over his chest, while narrowing his sight on Caroline who was standing in the middle of the room, with the radius of the moon to illuminate her face.

"I…I only wanted to thank you." She murmured, while swallowing a lump in her throat.

"And that is why you've undone your hair, while looking like a virgin in her wedding gown, sweetheart?" He asked, while staggering on his feet, and dropping the empty bottle on the floor. "I think that you want more than that, Love. I think that you want to be in my bed right now. You want to have sex with me, as much as I want to fuck you like there is no tomorrow. You have to excuse the rudeness of my say, but I'm a bit drunk at the moment. "

Caroline winced at his imply, before raising her chin in the air in a confrontational gesture, while blushing all the shades of red.

"You're drunk; therefore I'll go back to my own bedroom now." She replied, slyly, before lowering her head, turning on her heels, and walking toward the bedroom door.

She turned the handle, before seeing the door being firmly closed in front of her sight, her front body and opened palms pressed on the panel with Klaus's one on her back.

"Oh, Klaus…" She whispered, before leaning her head back on his right shoulder, her deep cleavage offered to his fiery sight, the roundness of her breasts rising in a up and down repetitive movement, under her heavy breaths, while feeling an intense fire invade her core.

"Oh….Yes…" He breathed the sound, while closing his eyes, his lips touching the right lobe of left ear, his hands slowly sliding on the length of her bare arms, before interlacing is fingers with hers. "You're so deep under my skin, Caroline; you know that, don't you? But, I'm afraid that you couldn't handle me. You couldn't handle this." He whispered, trying to convince himself, while lowering his head in the hollow of her left shoulder. "I want to do bad things to you, Love…I want to do them, now." He murmured, while lowering his hands on her hips, leaving a trail of fire on the fabric of her evening ball gown, before raising the skirt of her dress on the length of her legs, up on her thighs, his fingers playing with the lace of her suspender, before caressing the silkiness of the nylon stockings. "Do you want me to do bad things to you?" He asked, while raising his burning hands, upfront, inside her thighs.

"I… I can't think…" She stammered, under his sensual spell, while rolling her head alternatively, from right to left, left to right, in need of a release that she knew only Klaus could give her.

"You don't have to think. Let me lead you into my wild fantasy, Love." He whispered, his left hand lowering the right sleeve of the dress on her arm, his lips sliding on the round curve of her bare shoulder, in a mix of gently biting the soft skin with his teeth and tasting it with his mouth, before surprising Caroline by tearing abruptly the upfront part of her skirt in two bottom panels, under her cry of surprise, while opening the fabric on her shaking legs. "That's more like it." He smirked, while rubbing her bare hips and belly in languorous movements of his hands.

Caroline closed her eyes, while slowly sliding her hands on his forearms, before panting loudly under the need of feeling his hands all over her body.

"You like it when I go rough on you, don't you?" He whispered, while pulling one last time on the fabric, literally tearing the dress in two parts by opening the panels on her chest, before grabbing two full hands of her breasts. "Heal me Caroline, sexually, body and soul… And my heart, heal my heart, love."

Caroline felt tears rolling from her eyelashes to her cheeks. She had been so cruel with him. She was so lost in her own personal drama that she had never even considered or realized the pain the hybrid felt inside of him. In the meantime, she took her time to mature into a real woman. Caroline turned her head to the left while drowning her sight in Klaus's.

"I want you, and I want to try to heal you." She whispered, while turning her body around and facing Klaus, before raising herself on her tip toes and giving him a quick kiss on the lips.

Klaus closed his eyes, while lowering his forehead on Caroline's, before sighing loudly, several times to keep himself calm.

"I don't know if I can be gentle with you the first time, Love. I want you so much." He honestly confessed, while pushing her dress on her arms to let the fabric fall on their feet.

Caroline drowned her sight in Klaus's, before taking his hands in hers, while bringing both of them on each side of her waist.

"I'm not a porcelain doll, Klaus, I'll be fine … And … I trust you." She confessed, softly, to him.

"You shouldn't, Caroline. I can be a monster when I want to be." He whispered, while rubbing his hands up and down on her back, lowering them on her bottom before grabbing its roundness. "You're so beautiful and sexy... I want to drown myself in you." He confessed his thought, while raising one of his hands to caress her hair.

"I want to feel you inside of me too." She replied, while sliding her hands upward on his shirt, opening its buttons, one by one, pulling on his tie, before enrolling the small piece of fabric around her own neck in a seductive way. She pushed the shirt on the length of his arms, before letting it drop on the floor over the ripped pieces of her dress.

"You'll drive me crazy with desire, Caroline." He whispered, eyes closed, while feeling her hands and lips slide on his muscular chest a second later. He growled, before suddenly raising her in his arms, his hands placed under her bottom, with her legs encircling his waist, while carrying Caroline to his bed.

Klaus slowly dropped her body on the bedspread, while pulling on the left side of the tie enrolled around her neck, before throwing it over his right shoulder. She straightened her body to playfully take the tie back from his neck, before being gently pushed back in a lying position on the bed.

"Tss…Tss…Tss… I'll need it much later in the night." Klaus promised, while raising her left leg on his right shoulder, sliding sensually the tip of his tongue from her ankle, to her calve, down on the soft spot behind her knee, down again on the tender skin inside her thigh.

Caroline squirmed and moaned under the intense sexual pleasure of his mouth, her head rolling on the pillow, while sliding her hands on her breasts, by caressing their roundness over the fabric of her bra.

He lowered her leg on the bed, before raising his hands on both of their lengths, sliding his fingers under the elastic of her lace panties, before letting slip the little piece of fabric suggestively down on her skin.

"Unhooked your bra for me, Love … I want to see you fully naked." He asked Caroline.

She startled at his request, before straightening her upper body in a sitting position, unhooking her bra, while letting slide the two straps on the lengths of her arms. She revealed her naked breasts to his sight, before lying back on the bed; her left arm placed above her head, with her right hand sliding between her legs, where the fire was intensifying.

He closed his eyes for a few seconds, before reopening them and sliding his sight on Caroline's erotic sight. Her naked silhouette was now illuminated by the light of the full moon.

"You'll be the death of me woman." He whispered, while nervously passing a hand through his tangled hair.

Caroline observed Klaus undressing himself, through her trembling eyelashes, while opening the button of his pants, pushing the zipper down, before letting the fabric drop at his feet, soon followed by the rest of his clothes. He, then, stood with his muscular naked body in front of her sight, like a Greek God, with the obvious physical sign of his desire for her.

She closed her eyes, while swallowing a nervous lump in her throat, he was just so sexy to her, and she felt inadequate, inexperienced, and juvenile, in front of this experienced man. She wondered also, what he could see in her.

She suddenly felt an additional weight on the mattress, before feeling his body slide in top of hers a second later, one of his hands placed on her waist, the other one slowly cupping the roundness of her left breast, with the warmth of his mouth capturing the forbidden hard tip of the other one.

She squirmed underneath him, with loud groans, her hands sliding into his golden locks, in a mix of caressing and pushing his head in a nearer proximity of her chest, while feeling his length pushing his hardness between her thighs. She opened her legs, while crossing them around his waist.

"Don't position yourself like this, Love…Or… I won't be able to control myself, and pleasure you the way you should be pleasured." He warned, softly, while raising his head and sight in hers.

"Klaus Mikaelson, if you are not in me in the time space of a few seconds, I'll swear that I will scream from the top of my lungs and awaken the all city of Rome at the same time!" Caroline baffled him, while sighing loudly.

"Well, Miss Forbes, I certainly don't want you in a so agitated state of mind." He mocked, in a low whisper, before smirking and placing his length at the entrance of her walls, while slowly pushing his himself inside of her silkiness, under her loud moan of pleasure. "What took you so long to come to me, Caroline, to become the woman that you knew you could become in my arms, to understand that we were meant to be?" He murmured, while pushing further inside of her, before holding his thrusting pace, his head placed in the hollow her left shoulder, feeling the intense sexual satisfaction of finally possessing her body.

They stood still for a few seconds, with her nails scratching the skin of his back under the intensity of the moment. Klaus raised his head, before drowning his sight in Caroline's.

"Are you comfortable…Did I hurt you?" He asked, suddenly worried.

"The big, bad hybrid is asking if he is hurting me." She murmured, while sliding her hands on the muscles of his lower back, slowly raising her pelvic up and down on him.

"I have my moments." He smiled through his sentence, while enjoying her tightness around him.

"If you are not moving in me in the next few seconds, you'll hear what I have to say about it." She warned, while returning his smile.

"Yes, Love…" He nodded, smirking, before lowering his hips to follow her erotic motion, while making her moan his name repeatedly under the intense sexual pleasure he was lavishing her with. He intensified his thrust movements, while rising both of her arms and hands above her head, before interlacing his fingers with her. "You're mine, Caroline…And I'll prove this to you all night long." He whispered, while raising the tempo to reach both of their sexual pleasure picks.

* * *

The sun entered the bedroom very early the next morning. Caroline blinked her eyes several times, before stretching her arms above her head, with her legs enrolled in the ones of Klaus. She smiled heavenly, while raising her sight to look at his sleeping face. He was still soundly asleep, one of his arms placed above his head, and the other firmly encircling her waist. His head was turned toward the opened door of the balcony, with his tangled hair covering his forehead. She smirked, despite of her good common sense, she had to admit to herself that the most feared supernatural creature in the world was actually looking adorable in his morning sleeping state.

A small bird was standing, with its frail little legs on the railing of the balcony, while singing his morning notes, probably a good predicament of a better future.

She closed her eyes, lost in her memories of how foolish she had been the past few months:

_**"You mark my words, a small town boy, a small town life; it won't be enough for you."** _

Of course it wouldn't have been enough for her, for the simple reason that she had deeply falling in love with the alpha hybrid, she thought, smiling, while lowering he head near his bare chest, before tenderly kissing his skin. He moved and sighed in his sleep, but without waking up. She needed to share her feelings with him, and the quicker would be the better.

She slowly raised the sheet over her naked body, before delicately sliding his hand away from her waist, stepping outside the bed, while grabbing his shirt on the floor and dressing herself with it. She closed her eyes a second later to smell his personal odour left on the fabric.

She turned on herself one last time, before smiling at his sleeping view. She would go downstairs and sneak inside the Italian bakery, before grabbing a tray fill with those delicious Italian breads and a few small jars of jelly, while bringing a few blood bags with her. Mrs. Venichi, the landlord lady, had known Klaus since decades now, and she also knew about his vampirism, therefore, all the necessity had been at their disposal the first day of their arrival in Rome.

She, slowly and silently, closed the bedroom door behind her, before going down the stairs, and pushing the door that was leading to the bakery kitchen, before finding a note from Mrs. Venichi saying that they could help themselves with what their hearts desired. Caroline read the note, before smiling, and realizing that all her heart had ever desired was lying in a bed in one of the upstairs bedroom.

She reached for two small breads on a basket, before grabbing two little jars of jelly on a shelf, inadvertently dropping them on the kitchen floor, a second later.

"Damn it!" She mumbled, angrily, between her teeth, while bending her upper body to grab the jars on the floor, before being forcefully pulled back by two strong arms, with a hand covering her mouth, forbidden her to scream, and the other controlling all her freedom of movements.

"You scream and the hybrid will die faster than you could even call his name." She heard a man address himself to her. "Do we understand each other?"

Caroline nodded her head, while realizing who her assailant was. She felt a range of cold shivers hitting her spine.

"I've missed you my wild flower … So much." The man murmured with his lips placed near her right ear, and his hand still covering her mouth. "Now, listen to the deal I am willing to offer, beautiful Caroline. I have my army of faithful servants with me, as you can see."

At the same time, two Japanese men entered the little bakery kitchen, both dressed all in black, while nodding their heads in respect to Shinichi.

"I have ten other men inside, and ten more men guarding all entrances of this charming bakery. One of those men holds in his possession the Silver Dagger. They were trained to fight, Caroline, and Klaus won't be able to hold himself long enough under their attack." He slowly explained to her. "Now, here how I will proceed: you will follow me, without protesting too much, and I'll be willing to let Mr. Mikaelson live." He suggested, before releasing his hand on her mouth, and letting her go free.

Caroline stepped away from the Kitsune, while sighing and putting a hand over her chest.

"If you kill him, you'll kill all the line of vampires underneath him … Me included." She lashed out.

"Oh, but I know, my sweet Caroline. Isn't it an eternal agony, would you say, to wonder if your life or his was the most important thing to your heart?" Shinichi asked, while tilting his head. "But, if you leave with me, you'll save his life, therefore yours and the ones of your friends."

"You're despicable." She exclaimed, while feeling the tears falling freely from her eyelashes to her cheeks.

"You'll learn to appreciate me with time." He responded, indifferent.

"Never, I will hate you until my last vampire breath." She mumbled, angrily, between her teeth.

"So, what will it be, Caroline?" He asked, smirking, while crossing his arms in front of his chest.

* * *

Klaus opened his eyes, disoriented for a second, while staring at the ceiling of his bedroom, turning his body around on the canopy bed, before palpating with his right hand the empty space beside him.

"Caroline? …Love?" He called repeatedly, while straightening his upper body in a sitting position, before scattering the bedroom, passing a hand through his tangled hair, and jumping out of the bed a few seconds later.

He scattered the bedroom some more, while noticing her evening ball gown and his own clothes placed in a pill on the floor, a sweet memory of their lovemaking. He, then, searched for his underwear and noticed that his shirt was missing. He smiled while finally realizing that Caroline must have dressed herself with it, and run downstairs to pick up their breakfast.

He opened the bedroom door, before going down the stairs and pushing the bakery kitchen door open.

"Caroline? Love, are you here?" He called, before noticing a tray placed on the kitchen counter.

He let a smile spread on his lips, before losing it a second later, while grabbing a paper note that was folded in two and placed on the tray with his name on it.

**Klaus,**

**I thank you for your help these past few weeks.**

**Without you, I could not have found my way.**

**I've decided what I wanted and really needed to fulfil my own vampire destiny.**

**Paris, Tokyo and now Rome…**

**This has shown me that I was meant for a bigger future, alone, and away from Mystic Falls.**

**Please don't try to find me; I'll take care of myself.**

**Caroline**

"No, no, no…" Klaus shouted several times, before hitting with the back of his closed fists, all the objects placed on the kitchen counter, while making them fall on the kitchen floor, in a loud noise. "Caroline!" He yelled from the top of his lungs, while grabbing a chair in his hands, before hitting it forcefully on one of the walls.

"Mr. Mikaelson? What is going on?" He heard Mrs. Vinichi asking him, before seeing her enter the kitchen, with a hand placed over her chest.

He turned his head, while viciously staring at the Italian woman.

"You're scarring me, what happened? Where is _**giovane**_ Caroline?" She asked nervously.

Klaus smirked, before transforming into his vampire self.

"Per favore, Mr. Mikaelson, You're so better than this … If something happened, please, let me help you." Mrs. Vinichi tried to convince him, while putting her right arm in front of her body, to protect herself…. But the destiny of this poor woman was already written in the colour of blood.

Klaus grabbed Mrs. Vinichi by her right arm, before entering his fangs deeply into the skin of her neck, sucking up all her blood in a time space of seconds, before letting her lifeless body fall into the kitchen floor.

* * *

"The city of Rome, in Italy, that was your choice of hiding?" Elijah asked, while walking toward Klaus standing position near the guard rail of the port.

"It's as good as any." Klaus replied, shrugging, while keeping his sight lost in the horizon.

"There were a lot of unexplained deaths in the city in the last week; it's making the front news of the newspaper. You care to explain yourself?" Elijah inquired, while leaning his back on the guard rail and crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Not particularly." His brother answered.

"Matt Donovan is missing." Elijah informed.

"Am I supposed to care, Elijah? If so, I don't give a damn! Go tell Rebekah, she'll be more devastated by the news." Klaus replied, slyly, while turning his empty sight into the one of his brother.

"No, I'm not asking you to care, but you're supposed to put two and two together, and finally realize that a few pieces of the puzzle are missing." Elijah replied.

"If you think that your theory is of interest to me, you're sadly mistaking." Klaus replied, before turning his attention back to the calm water in front of him.

"Matt Donovan disappeared the night of the Lockwood event, the same night, that both, you and Miss Forbes, left town and the country." Elijah informed.

"The small town boy finally understood that Mystic Falls was not of any interests to him." Klaus shrugged his shoulders, before adding. "You've traveled all these miles to tell me this, Elijah?"

"Tyler Lockwood was under the compulsion of Shinichi all night long." Elijah added.

"Well, that much I knew." Klaus smirked.

"You lied to me, Klaus … You had promised me to free Tyler of your compulsion over him." Elijah mumbled, angrily, between his teeth.

"And yet, you believed me. How much of a fool are you, Elijah?" Klaus asked his brother, while turning his attention back to him. "He was a vital key to the creation of my hybrids army, and I wanted him away from Caroline…Why would I have un-sired him?"

"Because I've ask you to do it for me." Elijah replied to him, while drowning his sight in Klaus's.

"Well, it wasn't enough for me this time." Klaus responded, while avoiding the stare of his brother.

"Shinichi, Misao and all of their siblings left Mystic Falls that night….My theory is that Matt Donovan was kidnapped by him." Elijah explained more.

"What would this supernatural force of nature, named Shinichi, want to do with Donovan? Seriously Elijah you're losing your mind." Klaus exclaimed in anger.

"I think Shinichi kidnapped him as a weight in the balance to make Caroline fall for him sooner." Elijah replied, before adding. "And I think that Miss Forbes did not leave you. She was abducted by the Kistune."

Klaus closed his eyes, while sighing several times to calm himself down.

"The woman left me a note, Elijah. She obviously was not interested in me or my feelings for her. There was no sign of breaking an entry, she simply left." He explained to his brother, before adding. "This had nothing to do with Shinichi."

"Au contraire, Klaus, It has everything to do with him." Elijah replied. "But, you're too blind and stubborn to see it. You refused to give your entire trust to the woman that you fell in love with, and you had preferred to drown in your own sorrow and pity party. Think about what I've just said to you, and finally decide if you are worth loving or not. You'll know where to find me, when and if you do."

Elijah walked away from his brother, while leaving Klaus in a state of turmoil. The hybrid forcefully grabbed the rail guard with both of his hands, before lowering his head, closing his eyes and growling his frustration.

Elijah was delusional; Caroline had decided to leave him, because she wanted to be alone and away from his power over her. He wasn't what Caroline wanted for herself. He wasn't good enough; he never had been good enough for anybody, Mikael, his step father, was right about that.

Klaus Mikaelson had never been what a woman wanted in the past and would never be in the future.

Klaus Mikaelson would never be loved….

**The End**

* * *

Preview of the sequel to come:

**"SEVEN SINS"**

* * *

Caroline slowly reopened her eyes, while perceiving a ray of light coming from the opened panels of curtains, in what seemed to be a covered wagon, while feeling the rhythmic upheavals of the wheels on the pavement. She straightened her body, while holding her head with both hands under a strident headache, before lowering her hands in front of her chest, suddenly realizing that she was not wearing the clothes she had previously on her back. How long has she had been unconscious? How long has she had been abducted?

She was dressed with what seemed to be clothes from a past century. A long white tunic, with breaded leather belt on her waist, and a simple pair of flat, Cesar style, leather sandals in her feet, with her hair styled in a braid. She scattered the small wagon in search of any indications of her whereabouts, but without finding any clear explanation.

She heard a whisper of pain, before noticing a human silhouette under a blanket placed in the back of the wagon. She dragged herself toward the lamentations, before slowly raising the corner of the blanket with her right hand.

"Oh my God, Matt, is it you?" She exclaimed, in shock, while helping him straighten his body.

"Caroline? My head, it hurts so much." He moaned, while holding it with both hands.

"I know I felt the same when I woke up, but it will pass." She encouraged him, while holding her friend in a sitting position.

"Where are we?" He asked Caroline, while scattering the small space of the moving wagon, and finally lowering his sight on his clothes, with complete amazement. "And what kind of clothes am I wearing?" He asked, in shock, while noticing his long brownish tunic, and his leather sandals.

"I don't know?" Caroline replied, while shaking her head. "What are you doing here, Matt? Were you kidnapped also by Shinichi?"

They stood face to face in silence for a few seconds, before being projected on the opposite wall, in a sudden stop of the moving vehicle.

"What is going on? Why did we stop?" Matt asked Caroline.

"We should know soon." She whispered, before pulling him behind her toward the curtains panels.

She pushed one of the panels, while Matt pushed the other one, sliding both of their heads outside, before standing speechless, in front of the exterior view.

"Hey! Go back inside the wagon! The Master gave specific instructions that you should not wander around freely in the city." A guard, who was holding a sword in his hands, shouted at them.

"Where are we?" Caroline asked, while putting a hand over her chest. "Please, tell us where we are and what year is this?"

The guard raised one of his eyebrows in surprise, before exclaiming.

"You're in Egypt, in the city of Cairo, the year is 1593. Now get back inside the wagon!" He ordered, while pushing the tip of his sword toward them.

They both fell backward on their bottoms, while sitting inside the wagon, before raising their heads and staring at each other with both of their mouths opened.

"Did he say Egypt, 1593?" They both exclaimed, simultaneously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for the time you took to read "SEVEN DATES" :)  
> I plan to write a sequel at some point in the month of February 2014.  
> Just keep an eye opened.  
> Until then, keep safe.  
> Lovely Vero


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